Telecom giant BT plans to close its offices in Londonderry and lose 140 potential jobs in the city.
In an email to City Councilman Colum Eastwood on Wednesday, BT said its proposal to close Derry's office was part of a plan to “merge into small amounts of buildings.”
The company said most roles will be transferred to India, while some employees may move to Belfast.
BT said all employees will leave their offices in Delhi by the end of the year, according to the company's plan.
“Destructive News”
Foyle Colum Eastwood's SDLP MP said the prospect of unemployment is “destructive news for BT workers, their families and the wider local economy in Derry”.
He said that communications are being conducted with senior BT management and he will raise the matter with Stormont and the London government.
“Moving these roles to India and Belfast is a mistake, it makes regional economic imbalances worse, and it is a shift of opportunities directly from our cities to other places that are not needed,” Eastwood added.
Of the 140 employees in Derry, about 90 work in BT's business services team.
The company's email said BT plans to “transfer most roles to our operations in India”, adding that the Delhi office is “not suitable for the long term”.
Another 47 employees working in the group's business services may “transfer their roles to Belfast's choice”.
“The proposed loss of these jobs will have a serious impact at a time when we need to invest more in jobs and opportunities in our city,” Eastwood added.
Last year, Stormont's economy minister Conor Murphy described a decision to cut 300 roles from Enniskillen's BT call center as “destructive”.
In January, BBC News NI reported that BT's Belfast headquarters may have 90 jobs due to changes in telecommunications companies.
Analysis: Six years of threats are obvious
John Campbell, Editor of Economics, BBC News NI
The threat to the BT Derry office has been obvious for nearly six years.
In the summer of 2019, BT announced a plan to consolidate its UK offices into a handful of new or renovated buildings.
Its plan for Northern Ireland is to renovate its riverside tower office building, which will be completed in 2023.
Last year, the company announced it would close its Enniskillen call center, with most employees having voluntary layoffs.
In May last year, BT's new CEO Allison Kirkby announced a £3 billion cut in cost and confirmed an earlier goal to cut 40% of the group's workforce by the end of the decade.
Therefore, business logic means that Derry operations are likely to have the same fate as Enniskillen.
“Shameful decision”
The Derry and Strabane Council will meet with the company to discuss the recommendations.
Mayor Lilian Seecoi Barr and CEO John Kelpie told lawmakers Wednesday that they had received potentially lost letters from BT and had been forwarded to elected members.
Profit MP Shaun Harkin said many workers and their families would be “worrying about their future now.”
“I think it’s a shameful decision and I think it will attract good salaries to be eliminated from the city.”
DUP MP Julie Middleton said it was “deeply concerned, absolutely devastating” for employees and their families.
Ulster Unionist MP Derek Hussey said there was “some sort of irony” in the state provider BT, who suggested taking the job out of the city and moving it to Delhi, India.
He said that for many people living in the north-west, it was “unrealistic” to offer about 47 workers the prospect of moving to Belfast.
Sinn Féin MP Christopher Jackson said his party would support any efforts to “minimize the damage this will cause” or as a council job that would “turn around this decision.”
