BT plans put 140 jobs in Londonderry at risk

Telecommunications giant BT is planning to close its office in Londonderry with the potential loss of around 140 jobs in the city.

In an email to the city’s MP Colum Eastwood on Wednesday, BT said its proposals to close the Derry office is part of a programme of “consolidating into a smaller number of buildings”.

The majority of roles would be transferred to India while some employees could possibly relocate to Belfast, the company said.

All staff will leave the Derry office by the end of the year under the company’s plans, BT said.

The SDLP MP for Foyle Colum Eastwood said the prospect of job losses “is devastating news for BT workers, their families and the broader local economy in Derry”.

He said was communicating with senior BT management and he would raise the matter with the Stormont and London governments.

“Relocating these roles to India and Belfast is a mistake, it makes regional economic imbalances worse and it’s a direct transfer of opportunity from our city to other places that do not need it,” Eastwood added.

Of the 140 staff in Derry, around 90 people work in BT’s business services team.

BT plans to “transfer most of the roles to our operations in India,” the company email said, adding that the Derry office was “not suitable for the long-term”.

A further 47 staff who work in the group business services may have “the option of transferring their role to Belfast”.

Eastwood added: “At a time when we need to be investing more in jobs and opportunities in our city, the proposed loss of these jobs will have a serious impact.”

by John Campbell, BBC News NI economics editor

The threat to BT’s Derry office has been obvious for almost six years.

In the summer of 2019, BT announced a plan to consolidate its UK offices into a small number of new or refurbished buildings.

Its plan for Northern Ireland was to refurbish its Riverside Tower office block , a project which was completed in 2023.

Last year the company announced it would close its Enniskillen call centre with most staff taking voluntary redundancy.

In May last year, BT’s new chief executive, Allison Kirkby, announced £3bn of cost cuts and confirmed an earlier target to cut up to 40% of the group’s workforce by the end of this decade.

So commercial logic meant the Derry operation was highly likely to meet the same fate as Enniskillen.

Derry and Strabane council is to seek a meeting with the company to discuss the proposals.

Mayor Lilian Seenoi Barr and chief executive officer, John Kelpie, told councillors on Wednesday that they had received correspondence from BT over the potential job losses and that had been forwarded to elected members.

People Before Profit councillor Shaun Harkin said many workers and their families would be “sitting worrying now about their future”.

“I think it’s a disgraceful decision and I think this will suck decent paying jobs out of the city.”

DUP councillor Julie Middleton said it was “deeply concerning and absolutely devastating” for staff and their families.

Ulster Unionist councillor Derek Hussey said there was “a certain irony” in BT, a national provider, proposing to take jobs out of the city and move them to Delhi in India.

He said offering some 47 workers the prospect of moving to Belfast would “not be practical” for many who live in the north west.

Sinn Féin councillor Christopher Jackson said his party would support any effort to “minimise the devastation that this is going to cause” or work collectively as a council to “reverse this decision”.