Jobs fair for hundreds of axed British Gas staff (From Daily Echo)
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Jobs fair for hundreds of axed British Gas staff
8:15am Tuesday 19th June 2012 in Business
Jobs fair for hundreds of axed British Gas staff
A JOBS fair is being held today for the hundreds of workers made redundant at the Southampton call centre of British Gas.
The company has told 500 staff their jobs will go with the closure of its call centre in St Mary’s Road by the end of the year.
Twenty companies, including Aviva, Barclays, Capita and Hampshire Police, will attend a recruitment fair today at the Southampton Novotel hotel hosted by British Gas, in partnership with Southampton City Council and Job Centre Plus. But British Gas said it had not been told how many vacancies were available.
Staff were left stunned when British Gas announced in April it was closing its Dorset House call centre in a cost cutting review.
The energy giant, which last year posted £522m profits, said 50 staff could transfer to Chandler’s Ford, while proposing the majority of the Southampton work would be transferred to Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff.
The announcement came as insurance giant Zurich said it was making 163 workers redundant at its offices in Whiteley, and HSBC and Clydesdale banks announced 100 Southampton jobs were at risk.
Andy Eley, general manager of British Gas in Southampton said: “The proposal to close our Southampton office was an extremely difficult decision for us to take which is why we are doing everything we can to support our employees throughout this time.”
Southampton City Council leader Richard Williams said: “We have been working closely with British Gas and other agencies to support their workers and one initiative is this jobs fair, which could help to identify opportunities and provide insight into how workers can develop their skills to find suitable alternative employment in the region.”
The Southampton dole queue stood at 5,690 in April, with three jobseekers chasing each vacancy, according to latest official figures.
A consultation on the redundancies runs until August.
Comments(9)
loosehead
says...
1:00pm Tue 19 Jun 12
We have been working closely with British Gas and other agencies to support their workers and one initiative is this jobs fair.
this is from Williams who has been in for a matter of weeks & he's been away in Brussels?
Once again he's taking credit for a Tory initiative isn't he?
Lone Ranger.
says...
1:37pm Tue 19 Jun 12
loosehead wrote:Well i cant see how your beloved Tories had worked as fast as you suggest.
When the tories were in power they set up a working team & had arranged a jobs fair yet read this.
We have been working closely with British Gas and other agencies to support their workers and one initiative is this jobs fair.
this is from Williams who has been in for a matter of weeks & he's been away in Brussels?
Once again he's taking credit for a Tory initiative isn't he?
.
There were only 6 working days between the BG announcement and the Tories being tipped out.
.
And unlike the ex leader Williams does not need to be there for them to start/proceed or continue with the action.
.
Still if it makes you feel happier !!!.
.
loosehead
says...
9:09pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Lone Ranger. wrote:So once again you open your mouth before you put your brain into gear.
loosehead wrote:Well i cant see how your beloved Tories had worked as fast as you suggest.
When the tories were in power they set up a working team & had arranged a jobs fair yet read this.
We have been working closely with British Gas and other agencies to support their workers and one initiative is this jobs fair.
this is from Williams who has been in for a matter of weeks & he's been away in Brussels?
Once again he's taking credit for a Tory initiative isn't he?
.
There were only 6 working days between the BG announcement and the Tories being tipped out.
.
And unlike the ex leader Williams does not need to be there for them to start/proceed or continue with the action.
.
Still if it makes you feel happier !!!.
.
In this very paper there were posters saying forget British Gas employees the council should be finding jobs for every one or do you forget those when it becomes convenient for you?
loosehead
says...
9:17pm Tue 19 Jun 12
Lone Ranger. wrote:In your own words you've been condemned.
loosehead wrote:Well i cant see how your beloved Tories had worked as fast as you suggest.
When the tories were in power they set up a working team & had arranged a jobs fair yet read this.
We have been working closely with British Gas and other agencies to support their workers and one initiative is this jobs fair.
this is from Williams who has been in for a matter of weeks & he's been away in Brussels?
Once again he's taking credit for a Tory initiative isn't he?
.
There were only 6 working days between the BG announcement and the Tories being tipped out.
.
And unlike the ex leader Williams does not need to be there for them to start/proceed or continue with the action.
.
Still if it makes you feel happier !!!.
.
Lone Ranger. says...
11:35am Wed 2 May 12
How is the Council Task Force getting on with finding jobs for the workers who are being made redundant.
So the Tories were trying to help find jobs after all!
Lone Ranger.
says...
9:23am Wed 20 Jun 12
loosehead wrote:Yes ....... But you only posted half of the quote
Lone Ranger. wrote:In your own words you've been condemned.
loosehead wrote:Well i cant see how your beloved Tories had worked as fast as you suggest.
When the tories were in power they set up a working team & had arranged a jobs fair yet read this.
We have been working closely with British Gas and other agencies to support their workers and one initiative is this jobs fair.
this is from Williams who has been in for a matter of weeks & he's been away in Brussels?
Once again he's taking credit for a Tory initiative isn't he?
.
There were only 6 working days between the BG announcement and the Tories being tipped out.
.
And unlike the ex leader Williams does not need to be there for them to start/proceed or continue with the action.
.
Still if it makes you feel happier !!!.
.
Lone Ranger. says...
11:35am Wed 2 May 12
How is the Council Task Force getting on with finding jobs for the workers who are being made redundant.
So the Tories were trying to help find jobs after all!
uptheirons
says...
12:31pm Wed 20 Jun 12
How you can blame government/council actions for this is utterly laughable.
IronLady2010
says...
6:56pm Wed 20 Jun 12
uptheirons wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but BG employees don't dress smart as per their contract, they can wear jeans etc.
Have you read what you've been writing above? Whilst I sympathise with the staff facing redundancies from British Gas, it's fundamentally up to them to find themselves a new job. The work is out there if you want it! I was at the job fair yesterday and 80% of the workers didn't have/hadn't started their CVs. Of the 500+ that passed through the doors only about 20 people had bothered to dress for the situation (how to dress to impress). In this day and age a potential employee needs to stand out from the rest before he's even spoken to an employer!
How you can blame government/council actions for this is utterly laughable.
So, at a guess, they went along to a recruitment based on what they know, as they assumed this was put on by their employers whom allow them to where jeans etc.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!
DFMA-Makeupacademy
says...
2:25pm Wed 4 Jul 12
Train to become a Make-up artist by people currently working in the industry.
http://www.facebook.
com/pages/DFMA-Make-
Up-Academy/143594215
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Smartiepants says...
9:24am Tue 19 Jun 12