Vodafone Call Center Workers in Ireland Protest Jobs Sent Offshore

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

Vodafone (News - Alert) customer care staff in Ireland reportedly voted in favor of industrial action against their employer.

The Communications Workers Union in the country reported the results of balloting: of 264 workers at Vodafone call centers in Dublin and Dundalk, 262 were in favor and two were against. The union said the action is to protest the decisions to export almost 500 customer service jobs to locations in Northern Ireland, Egypt and India.

The CWU said the move showed complete disregard for the impact on livelihoods, the Irish Examiner reported today.

“This result is an unambiguous demand from workers at Vodafone for industrial action to protest at the decisions of the Company over the last 12 months to export almost 500 jobs in its customer care services for its Irish customer base to locations in Northern Ireland, Egypt and India,” said Terry Delany, CWU Deputy General Secretary.

“In making these decisions and in its subsequent actions, the Company has been arrogant, callous and deceitful in its treatment of workers and the complete disregard for the damaging impacts on the livelihoods and futures of the workers affected, and their families and communities,” he added. “Specifically, the Company’s commitment to consult in a sincere and open way has been shown to be without any basis in the reality of how the Company has conducted its affairs.” 

The Communications Workers Union is Ireland's largest union for the postal, telecommunications and call center sectors. It has members in Eircom (News - Alert), An Post, Vodafone, Meteor, O2 and many other telecom companies.

According to Delany, Vodafone has not responded to the questions and concerns of workers in “a clear and forthright manner.”

Vodafone began offering the iPhone (News - Alert) 3 and 3GS to customers in Ireland and the U.K. in 2009.