In addition to raising the proposed jobs cuts in Rayleigh at Prime Minister’s Questions today, Rayleigh MP’s Mark Francois has now held an urgent meeting with Mr Paul Golby, Chief Executive of E.ON UK, to discuss the proposed closure of their call centre in his constituency.
Mark asked for a meeting with the company once he heard the news of the proposed closure and the two men met at Westminster today and discussed the situation for around an hour.
During the discussion it emerged that the E.ON UK retail division - of which the Rayleigh call centre is part - had previously been losing money but that the division is expected to return to profitability once its 2009 results are published. Part of this turnaround is as a result of a previous efficiency programme, to which staff at the Rayleigh operation have already contributed.
During the meeting Mark asked Mr Golby directly if there was any way that the company might be prepared to reconsider their decision to close their Rayleigh operation. Mark also asked what arrangements would be made to support employees if the decision to go ahead with closure was carried through. He was told that the decision was subject to a statutory 90 day consultation period, which would commence very shortly and that while the company were not likely to change their mind lightly, they would listen to any counter-proposals from the workforce that might be put forward. Commenting on the meeting with Mr Golby and his intervention at Prime Ministers Questions, Rayleigh's MP said:
""This proposed closure is very sad news for Rayleigh. The workforce in Rayleigh has worked very hard for the last few years to help return their division of E.ON to profitability and now that seems to have been achieved it seems unfair to reward them by making them redundant. I put this point directly to Mr Golby today and even though the chances of a reprieve seem slim I hope the company might yet reconsider this decision, which would affect so many families in my constituency.”
