UPC Ireland confirms plans to cut up to 170 jobs

Telecommunications company UPC Ireland has confirmed plans to cut up to 170 jobs as part of a major restructuring plan that will see a number of operations being relocated overseas.

UPC said that where possible, redundancies would be achieved on a voluntary basis. It added it hoped that redeployment opportunities would minimise the impact on staff.

Management at the company briefed employees about its future plans, which involves cutting jobs across five facilities, earlier on Thursday.

UPC said the restructuring plans “involved a realignment of business operations to reduce costs and create additional efficiencies .”

“The changes taking place will impact a number of divisions across the company but primarily relate to activities in customer care, sales and field operations. UPC will also migrate additional activity from certain outsource partners and relocate this business to other third party suppliers within the Liberty Global group,” said chief executive Magnus Ternsjo.

“These changes are necessary to ensure the company remains competitive on all fronts and remains an agile and sustainable business,” he added.

Union representatives are to meet with management in Limerick on Friday to discuss the job losses.

“It is with deep regret that our members at UPC Ireland were informed of the company’s plans to implement such a large number of redundancies. Management has stated that the redundancies are unavoidable due to the company’s decision to implement a restructuring plan which will see some operations relocated to the Philippines and others amalgamated. Out of the approximately 170 job losses over 100 relate to our members,” said Siptu organiser Dennis Hynes. “Over the coming days the focus for Siput representatives will be on minimalising the final number of redundancies and ensuring the best terms are secured for the workers who will lose their jobs,” he added.

Unite, which represents about 150 UPC employees, said it was disappointed by the announcement.

“Our priority now is to ensure that all redundancies are voluntary and that the workers concerned receive the best possible terms, while also securing the long-term future of UPC’s operations and maintaining and improving the terms and conditions of the remaining workers,” said Unite regional officer Brendan Byrne.

The Liberty Global-owned company said last week that it added a further 51,500 subscribers last year, bringing its total subscription base up to 1,111,200.

It recorded a 7 per cent rise in broadband subscriptions in the fourth quarter to end the year with 363,400 broadband customers. Phone customers rose 17 per cent year-on year to 344,300. Digital cable TV customers totalled 333,200, down from 338,300 a year earlier.