Call Goes Out To Save Derry Jobs

There are hopes today that a potential new customer will be found for a beleaguered Londonderry call centre.

Just last Friday it emerged that more than 400 jobs could go at the Stream International call centre in the city within two months, if new work isn't found.

SDLP Foyle representative, Mark Durkan (pictured) said that the company had already confirmed 250 workers are to be made redundant, Invest NI has been told that it could be as many as 450 jobs.

But there may be something at the end of the line as Mr Durkan has today said that Stream's boss is in America to persuade the parent company to provide more work.

Mr Durkan said he hoped the confusion surrounding the number of jobs under threat would not damage the company's reputation with potential customers.

"We want to make sure we are not saying anything that affects the credibility of the company, and the confidence that any new would-be customer would have," he said.

Meanwhile, workers' representatives from Stream are due to meet Employment and Learning Minister Sir Reg Empey later.

The Executive has already been paid £1.2m to the US-owned company, which currently employs about 550 people at Springtown.

The established call centre provides customer service and technical support for computer hardware products and past customers have included Dell, BT, JVC and Vodafone.

The company was previously the 'European Call Centre of the Year', an accolade awarded two years running, but is now being hit by the economic downturn.

See: Stream wins European Call Centre of the Year accolade

(BMcC/GK)