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air miles staff fear axe again

FEARS
are rising of job losses at Air Miles' Crawley call centre after

news the company has proposed, for the second time
in three years, to
close the operation.
A total of 87 call centre and back-office staff, 50
of which are
full-time, are now in a
month-long consultation period, ending on April
22. This follows a suggestion to relocate the centre to an existing
Birchwood call centre, near Warrington.
The Transport Salaried Staff's Association claims
it has been inundated by
calls from
Crawley staff who fear they could be made redundant.

TSSA negotiations officer Lorraine Byrne said the
move was made worse
because many staff had
been through a similar consultation in 2001 when
the idea of closure was first mooted.
She said: "As most of the workforce are
working mums with families, it is
unlikely they
would want to relocate. Some of these individuals are facing
the possibility of redundancy all over again and I've had a great deal
of
calls from outraged staff."
Byrne also claimed the redundancy package on the
cards was less generous
than in 2001.
But Air Miles insisted redundancy had yet to be
discussed and, at this
stage, the consultation
was being held to get alternative suggestions from
staff.
A spokeswoman said: "We understand this is a
difficult time for staff but
these are simply
proposals and we hope there will be alternative
suggestions."
If the relocation goes ahead, 78 jobs would be
created at Birchwood, nine
less than
currently employed in these functions in Crawley. With this
move, the company said it would save £3 million over three years and
improve efficiency.
There are 380 staff employed at Birchwood. There
are no plans to shut the

Crawley head office.



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