Workers at call centre finally get paid

Staff at the Knxus plant in Castlebar, Co Mayo, expressed relief yesterday when their wages were paid after a five-day delay.

Staff at the Knxus plant in Castlebar, Co Mayo, expressed relief yesterday when their wages were paid after a five-day delay.

The call-centre workers had feared for their jobs at the plant when their monthly wages were not credited to their bank accounts on Christmas Eve.

They refused to work at the weekend and only resumed yesterday after the parent company, based in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, sent their local managers a fax stating that cheques would be available later in the day.

The fax, which was read to the 180-strong workforce around 1 p.m., said the cash-flow problem had arisen because the company was involved in a "merger situation".

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Despite relief at assurances that jobs were not in jeopardy, there was anger and frustration amongst the workforce that they had been left without wages at one of the most financially demanding times of the year.

Ms Joanne Murphy, a mother of two, said she was "raging".

"While Christmas wasn't totally ruined it was a very testing time financially. My mortgage, the car payment, everything was coming out of a bank account with no money in it.

"We weren't even given the courtesy of a phone call to say the money wasn't being paid."

Ms Siobhan O'Toole, said she was "flummoxed" by what happened.

"Although we got the cheques today it will take another few days to clear them. It's hardly a fair or satisfactory situation to be left in at Christmas".

Yesterday evening, Mr Mike McGuckin, sales director with Knxus, said the company was merging with Contact Partners Limited, Shannon, and the problem over the payment of wages to workers had arisen because the company had four bank accounts.

"We have apologised to our employees over the mix-up and cheques have been issued to them", he said.

"We now aim to become the number one call-centre providers along the western seaboard," Mr McGuckin added.

The combined companies would be expanding further in the new year and aimed to employ up to 50 new workers in Castlebar in the next eight to 12 weeks.

Knxus took over the tenancy of the call centre at Cedar House, Castlebar, last year and retained all of the 70 former Optimize workers there, as well as increasing its workforce over the past number of months.

Mr Oliver Kelleher, president of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the fact that workers had been paid, stating they were "understandably upset" about the situation, especially "given the time of year".

Mr Kelleher said he hoped the merger arrangement in which Knxus is involved proceeds satisfactorily as the company was a very valuable and important employer in Castlebar and the wider Mayo area.