575 Jobs Lost As Talk Talk Quits Waterford

Stunned employees of a call centre in Waterford are facing up to the prospect of joining the dole queues in just four weeks' time after the decision of British broadband company Talk Talk to close down.

The company is moving the 575 jobs from Waterford to Asia, where staff costs are just one tenth of what they are in Ireland.

It says the number of calls by phone has been decreasing, and more of its customers are making their queries online.

They plan to outsource the work.

Currency fluctuations between the euro and sterling were also a factor in the decision to leave.

The closure is a massive blow to the Waterford region, which has already lost more than 2000 jobs in recent years.

The nature of the announcement has angered workers, and the Irish government, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny accusing Talk Talk of lacking "corporate courtesy".

Staff had recently been sent to train workers in foreign call centers before being told their own jobs were being cut.

Some workers found out they were losing their jobs by hearing it on radio, or on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Talk Talk did not consult with IDA Ireland, the State agency who had encouraged them to locate in Waterford, before they made their announcement.

It's undertood Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton was informed shortly before the announcement was made, but was told the decision was not reversible.

Mr Burton travelled to Waterford to meet workers on Monday this week.

The company first established a base outside of Waterford city in 1998 employing 30 people.

It employed over 700 people at one stage, although that number has fallen to 575 this year.

Barry O'Leary, chief executive of the IDA, said he was "appalled" at the four-week notice given for the closure, adding that it "shows little respect to the prospect of achieving a successful outcome" to finding an alternative employer to take over the Talk Talk operation.

He said the IDA was talking to a number of companies around the world about taking on the facility and staff.

The IDA was criticized for not doing more to attract jobs to the Wateford region which has become an unemployment blackspot.

But he argued that it was not a case of Galway versus Waterford, but "Ireland versus Singapore".

It was up to investors to decide where to base themselves within the country, he said.

Talk Talk does not recognize union membership at the company, so the workers and management are using an internal forum to discuss redundancy payments.