‘No Government anger’ over lost jobs
Talk Talk is to close its Waterford base within 30 days and management relayed the news to staff at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon, following a morning of briefings with the Government and the IDA.
A company spokesperson said yesterday from the Talk Talk HQ in London that they were “comfortable” with how they handled the announcement which came without warning.
Asked if the Government or the IDA had reacted angrily on or since Wednesday, when given confirmation of the closure, the spokesperson said: “The conversations we’ve been having with them have been quite constructive. They’ve naturally spoken to us about the length of the [30-day] consultation process, but they haven’t expressed anger.
“They are, naturally, very disappointed and we appreciate that and that local organisations, all the way up to the highest political level, are going to be disappointed with this news and we can understand that.”
The news came as a shock because they wanted employees to hear it directly from management, he said.
“They were our priority, so everything we did was to ensure that we treated our employees in the right way and at the right time.
“We only spoke to outside parties yesterday (Wednesday) morning and it was on the news in a matter of hours. We then had people saying the employees didn’t hear it from us,” he said.
“We’re comfortable that we went about this the right way. It was always of paramount concern that our people heard the news from us. In most cases, that was the case and we were able to deliver this difficult news to them, ourselves.”
Political fallout continued yesterday as politicians called on the Government to act in the workers’ favour.
Local Fine Gael TD John Deasy said the IDA must recreate its regional office in Waterford. “We’re asking for a real presence of senior officials in Waterford by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland,” he said.
Party colleague Paudie Coffey said the lack of prior consultation with staff was “regrettable and unfair” and the news was devastating for the region. “I believe the company must extend this consultation period so that staff can properly assess their own situations and that the IDA can try to find an alternative investor for the site.”
Trade union Unite said the company must treat its workers properly. “It would be wrong of a company who has benefited from the hard work of local people to walk away now from its moral obligation to treat its workers fairly,” said organiser Roy Hassey.
“Unite is calling on Talk Talk to table a fair redundancy package to the workers who have served the company diligently over the years.”
Labour TD Ciara Conway said the workers may be able to benefit from the €500 million European Globalisation Fund. “The money can be used to fund tailor-made training and re-training, including IT skills and certification of acquired experience, outplacement assistance and entrepreneurship promotion or aid for self-employment.”
Bishop William Lee of the Waterford and Lismore diocese called for prayers for the workers and their families while a new HSE programme on “stress control” in Waterford may be suitable for people going through the pressures of unemployment.
