Nortel Cuts Yet More Jobs

Telecoms giant Nortel has laid off 150 staff across the UK, all without redundancy pay.

Nortel's Toronto-based HQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in January and also put its UK arm into administration.

At the end of March, 228 workers, including 87 from Nortel's facility in Co Antrim were laid off from its UK operation.

Administrators Ernst & Young confirmed yesterday that the company's UK employee forum had been notified that due to an ongoing decline in revenues "it will be necessary, going forward, to facilitate a number of redundancies" but said it was too early to provide details of numbers or which departments will be affected.

However, it has emerged today that the posts are being cut from the Maidenhead headquarters, Newtownabbey in Co Antrim and Harlow, Essex.

Further jobs cuts are expected to be announced on 7 July.

Ernst and Young said it could not give redundancy pay if it was to ensure the survival of the business.

A spokeswoman said: "Because of economic reasons it has been necessary to implement a further redundancy programme in the UK.

"This is a result of a significant decline in revenues for Nortel Networks UK.

"It is unfortunate that we have had to make further headcount reductions but they have been necessary to reduce costs in the ongoing business and are essential to the ongoing survival of Nortel Networks UK."

Ex-employees have been holding a series of protests outside the Maidenhead headquarters and the offices in Northern Ireland.

The former staff said Nortel workers in France and Germany who were made redundant had been given "full recognition" and redundancy pay.

They are also angry that a retention bonus was paid to executives in the US and Canada soon after the March job losses, which reportedly amounted to $23m (£13.9m).

Ernst and Young said the bonuses had "nothing to do with the UK administration".

Nortel had employed about 1,200 staff at its Maidenhead site, with another 800 employed in Harlow in Essex, north Lanarkshire, London and Newtownabbey.

The former Standard Telephones Company in Monkstown has seen several separate disputes taking place over the years and staff also faced earlier uncertainty over the company's take-over.

See: Nortel Strike As Dispute Escalates

(BMcC/JM)