Just days after UK bank Lloyds TSB announced the return of its Mumbai call center activities to the UK, Barclaycard has revealed that it is to close its Peterloo House call center in Manchester, in order to move the activities currently undertaken at this site to Teeside and to facilities in Mumbai and Delhi, India. The closure will involve the loss of 630 jobs.
According to Barclaycard, the call center will close on July 16, 2007 and will not be moved to new premises in Spinningfields, Manchester, as was previously expected. The company commented that staff would continue to be given full pay until October 2007.
Antony Jenkins, Barclaycard’s chief executive, said: Decisions like these are never easy and we will be doing everything we can to support those affected. Barclaycard’s business is becoming more global and to stay successful we must change how we operate to reflect this. Unfortunately, closing our Peterloo House site in Manchester center is part of that process.
While Barclaycard has said that it is working closely with its union, Amicus, to minimize the impact on employees, the union has slated the company’s decision. According to the BBC, Amicus official Steve Pantak said: At a time of increasing pressure on all staff in Barclaycard, we believe it to be totally inappropriate for this large and highly profitable employer to be announcing closures and job losses.
The BBC article also cited Mr Pantak as saying: We believe that with such a large presence in the Northwest, Barclays should be able to accommodate all those staff who are displaced but wish to remain with them, and that Amicus would be pushing the card provider to ensure this.