Tearful Vodafone employees were escorted from Vodafone's
call centres in Warrington and Stoke today, immediately after
being told their jobs had been cut, Vodafone staff claimed today.
Workers at both offices expressed their disgust at the treatment
meted out to their redundant colleagues.
One employee wrote: 'A total shock to enter the building to find
people in tears and being escorted from the premises. We are
dumb-founded; we expect even more jobs to go and are angry at the
lack of notice or consultation.'
Comments revealed that managers are the target of cuts at the
call centres. One employee said: 'I would say escorting managers
and advisors off premises that have worked loyally without fault
for little pay like they were common criminals is bang put of
order! These people have no hearts!'
Another call centre worker criticised Vodafone for not consulting
staff earlier and for the heavy handed manner in which staff and
their belongings were removed from the building.
The employee said: 'The managers were called into the office and
whilst they were in there, their personal belongings where taken
to reception without their knowing. Once they were told, they
were escorted off the premises as if they had been fired!
It's disgusting how Vodafone treat their staff after such a
long time!'
Meanwhile telecoms union CWU added its voice to calls for greater
clarity on where and how many jobs will be culled.
Andy Kerr, CWU deputy general secretary, said: 'Its regrettable
that Vodafone is making these job losses and is certainly bad
news for the companys staff.
'We're not sure that the current information coming from the
company regarding redundancies is entirely accurate. There are
rumours that jobs will be lost from Vodafone sites in Stoke and
Warrington and these are both customer-facing operations, while
Vodafone has implied that customer-facing roles will be expanded.
'We'd like to see greater clarity from the company on how this
decision will affect staff, a willingness to explore redeployment
opportunities and greater assurances about a voluntary approach
to redundancies.
'We also encourage any staff affected by this decision to contact
the CWU for support.'
' Vodafone spokeswoman confirmed that people may have been
escorted out of the building, but this would have been after
meeting and reaching an agreement with their managers. She added
that a three month aftercare service was being provided for those
who have been made redundant.