Tesco

150 - 190 jobs
Number of planned job losses

Announcement Date

11 January 2007

Employment effect (start)

Foreseen end date

Description

Up to 190 jobs are being lost in Cardiff as supermarket giant Tesco transfers finance centre work to India. As it was announced on 11 January 2007, staff were told the administrative work would be transferred to Bangalore. A 90-day consultation period has begun. The company said around 180 members of staff would remain at the office in the Birchgrove area of the city. It added there were plans for 200 new jobs from a call centre expansion over the next two years but union officials say affected staff were 'disappointed'. The work involves internal administration such as taxes, invoices and expenses. A spokesman said no redundancy notices had been issued and the exact number of jobs to be transferred to India was still to be decided, but it is likely to be between 150 and 190. Anybody wanting to stay with the company will be offered interviews and retraining, and the remainder would have redundancy and retraining packages offered to them. Tesco, which employs staff in 13 countries, said there was already a finance centre in India to deal with their administration globally. But the Usdaw union which represents the affected workers said it was unhappy with the decision. 'Our members are naturally shocked and disappointed at this announcement that their roles are being moved,' says Usdaw's Tesco national officer Pauline Foulkes. 'This is a devastating blow for our members and we're now in a consultation process with Tesco.' 'Our primary concern during this very difficult period for our long standing members in Cardiff is to make sure that they get the best possible advice and support from us.' 'We'll be working very closely with Tesco to make sure our members are offered the best retraining possible and to make sure they are offered every available support to find new opportunities in Tesco and south Wales.'

Sources

• 11 January 2007: BBC News