THE credit-card giant Barclaycard was under fire last night after announcing plans to close a call centre in Scotland, employing 900, only months after taking it over.
The Goldfish complex in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, is likely to close by the end of the year, after the company was bought out by its bigger rival in February.
MSPs and councillors have attacked Barclaycard's announcement, while the Scottish
Government has pledged to try to find a buyer for the centre.
North Lanarkshire is still reeling from last month's announcement that 350 jobs were to go at McAlpine's former headquarters in Tannochside, after the building firm was taken over by a rival.
At the time of the £35 million takeover of Goldfish, which saw Barclaycard gain an extra 1.7 million customers, officials insisted the firm had "no reason" to consider closing down the Cumbernauld call centre and claimed it would need enough staff to deal with so many customers.
But now Barclaycard has announced plans to close down the centre, after deciding to integrate Goldfish into its own operations. It said the call centre was surplus to requirements.
Goldfish's head office at Canary Wharf in London is also earmarked for closure, with the expected loss of 90 jobs.
Barclaycard operates several call centres in India, as well as in Stockton on Teesside, Liverpool and Northampton.
The company last night said it would make "every effort" to find workers alternative posts within the company if it decides to press ahead with the call-centre closure after a three-month consultation period with the workforce and union leaders.
A spokeswoman for the company said: "Barclaycard proposed to migrate the Goldfish work from Cumbernauld to service centres, primarily in the UK, before the end of 2008. The customer service operations in Teesside, Kirkby and Northampton will have call-centre opportunities, and assistance will be available to staff wishing to pursue openings in these areas."
Amer Sajed, managing director of UK cards at Barclaycard, said: "We consider this is the right strategy in the context of the highly competitive industry in which we operate."
However, North Lanarkshire Council leader Jim McCabe said: "I'm bitterly disappointed in the lack of loyalty that Barclaycard has shown to the Scottish workforce and I would not be surprised if the people of Scotland were to react negatively towards that organisation. My thoughts are with the staff and their families, and we will do all we can to support those affected."
Jamie Hepburn, the SNP MSP for Central Scotland, said: "No-one wants to see job losses and I hope Barclaycard will rethink their plans and commit to what is a state-of-the art facility."
Jim Mather, the enterprise minister, said he was "extremely disappointed" with Barclaycard's announcement.
"Both the First Minister and I have been in contact with the company and we've been actively exploring all possible avenues of assistance to allow Barclaycard to continue in Cumbernauld. We'll continue that work throughout the consultation period and beyond."
Mr Mather said that if the closure was confirmed, efforts would be made to find an alternative owner to take over the complex as a going concern.
The full article contains 535 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
