Labour MEP Phil Prendergast raised the TalkTalk closure last night in the European Parliament and asked that the workers be entitled to avail of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund – designed to help with retraining and education,.
European commissioner for employment Laszlo Andor said he would investigate the planned closure of the call centre, which is due to shut early next month following a 30-day consultation process, with the loss of 575 jobs.
Ms Prendergast said she raised the question “because it seems the company may not have followed critical procedures in serving notice to the workers”. She said EU law and case law on redundancy required companies to enter discussions with workers’ representatives and provide workers with information before issuing redundancy notices, not afterwards. Employers must also wait until 30 days after informing the Department of Enterprise of the job losses before issuing notices. “The European Court of Justice has found that redundancy takes effect from the date of the notice, not the termination date, so there is a serious question over whether the company is in compliance with the directive,” she said.
Mr Andor said he would look “favourably” on any request for assistance from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for TalkTalk workers.