Virgin Media - Trowbridge closure press release.

4^th May 2011

For immediate release

CWU says Virgin Media closure a ‘disaster’ for Trowbridge
Following news from Virgin Media that the company will close its Trowbridge centre with the loss of over 500 jobs locally, the Communication Workers Union describes the decision as a “disaster” for the local area.
  Staff at the Virgin Media contact centre, which handles calls for Virgin Mobile and other Virgin products, were briefed by senior Virgin Media management at 2pm today (Wednesday) about the decision to close the site by the end of 2012. Mobile company Vodafone announced last month that it will close its centre on the same site in Trowbridge.
  Andy Kerr, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “This is a disaster for Virgin Media staff at Trowbridge and for the whole area. Coming on the back of the Vodafone decision to pull out of Trowbridge, the local economy will be hit hard by this redundancy double whammy.
  “We’re asking Virgin Media to make redeployment and relocation packages a realistic option for staff who may be interested, not a token tick box exercise. The sad fact is that there will not be an option to stay in Trowbridge and work for Virgin Media as other sites are not within commuting distance and relocation remains an unrealistic option for the majority of staff.
“The closure will be phased over 18 months, but this is no consolation for staff, many of whom have long service for the company, who ultimately face losing their job.”
  CWU is advising members through this difficult period.

CWU represents people working in call centre, engineering and other roles in mobile and telecommunication companies. CWU also has members in postal and financial services industries with 211,000 members across the UK.

For more information please contact:

Sian Jones, Press Officer, tel: 020 8971 7267, mobile: 0779 3314249, e-mail: sbjones@cwu.org
Kevin Slocombe, Head of Communications, mobile: 07714504413, e-mail: kslocombe@cwu.org