Phone directory firm will axe 90 staff as work shifts to Manila
UP to 90 employees at a directory enquiries company are set to lose their jobs as their work is outsourced to Asia.
The news comes as 200 workers at Bord na Mona are balloting for strike action that could affect the country's three peat-fired power stations and lead to electricity cuts across the country.
Around 80 directory enquiries staff at 11850 will be let go while almost the entire media sales team will be made redundant as the firm moves more of its operations to Manila in the Philippines.
Workers in Manila already handle all calls received between 10pm and 7am and at weekends.
However, it is understood the company, which is based at East Point Business Park in Dublin, is now planning to outsource all call handling on Wednesdays as well.
A period of consultation between management and staff will end next week.
However, one worker who contacted the Irish Independent said there is huge anger among employees who fear more jobs could be under threat.
"It's looking like the entire call centre is going to be moved to Manila, it's just a matter of time," he said.
A spokesperson for Conduit could not be contacted for comment last night.
There was bad news for workers at American multi-national Pall in Tipperary town which announced it was axing 20 jobs.
The company, which manufactures medical products, currently employs 128 people.
Strike action
Elsewhere, 200 members of the UNITE trade union at Bord na Mona have started a ballot on strike action over the decision by management to impose changes on work practices at the peat-fired power stations at Edenderry, west Offaly and Lough Ree, in Co Longford.
Union officials said the changes would lead to a significant reduction in earnings for full-time workers and the "dismantling of a way of life" for casual staff who work during peak production times.
Brian Gormley, regional officer for UNITE, yesteray said: "The ballot was called for at a packed and heated meeting of workers who feel angered and betrayed by the actions of management and their dismissal of a partnership ethos that has served the company well down the years."
The ballot will be counted on May 27 and the union has warned, should strike action be taken, it will have the potential to disrupt power supplies.
Meanwhile, workers at Shaws department stores who had been due to begin three days of strike action yesterday have agreed to continue working after management said it would attend the Labour Relations Commission in a dispute about changes to work practices.
The company has 16 outlets throughout the country and employs over 600 staff.
Troubled global courier firm DHL is considering a union proposal to amalgamate its seven regional depots into three in a bid to save 320 jobs.
There was some hope last night that SIPTU's proposal may avert some job losses at the firm, which blamed the redundancies on a severe downturn in domestic deliveries when it announced them last week.
- Breda Heffernan and Conor Kane
