1,100 GIVEN JOB AXE DATE.Byline: by NEIL HODGSON Neil Hodgson (born November 20 1973 in Burnley, Lancashire) is a motorcycle racer who won the 2000 British Superbike championship and the 2003 Superbike World Industry Reporter SHOP Direct will shut a Merseyside call centre on April 30 with the loss of 1,100 jobs, staff were told today. A series of briefings were being held at the company's site in Staley Avenue, Crosby, informing workers the former Littlewoods premises will shut completely. One-to-one interviews with staff will start from tomorrow. Shop Direct said there was a possibility that up to 250 staff facing redundancy could be redeployed elsewhere. But one Crosby worker say there was "no way anyone from Crosby" would move to either of the firm's other centres, in Preston and Burnley. She said unrest had spread during this morning's briefings and she expected the mood to get worse as the closure date loomed. She added: "There was quite a lot of shouting in the briefings and that will go on throughout the day." The mood has gone from everyone being shocked last week, to quite angry today. "We have 12 weeks until we finish, but a lot of people would rather go now." A Shop Direct spokesman confirmed the closure date of the centre. He also said Preston and Burnley were not the only redeployment re·de·ploy tr.v. re·de·ployed, re·de·ploy·ing, re·de·ploys 1. To move (military forces) from one combat zone to another. 2. options, saying some jobs would be available at the company's Aintree site. When the announcement was made last week, some staff screamed in anguish, and at least one person collapsed with a suspected heart attack. Shop Direct said the impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. closure was due to increasing numbers of home shopping Home Shopping commonly refers to the electronic retailing / home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar companies as HSN, QVC, eBay, ShopNBC, Buy.com, and Amazon.com. customers using the internet to order goods, rather than catalogues and phones. The company believes 7%of its sales will be online by 2010/11 and therefore it believed its future was online. In addition to the 1,000 Crosby job losses, a further 150 workers will be made redundant at sites in Aintree, Preston and Manchester. Shop Direct said it hoped to relocate re·lo·cate v. re·lo·cat·ed, re·lo·cat·ing, re·lo·cates v.tr. To move to or establish in a new place: relocated the business. v.intr. 250 employees and said it recognised it was "a difficult time". Shopworkers' union Usdaw said it wanted the company to justify the closure with a strong business case. They said they would do everything possible to try to minimise the scale of the proposed job losses. email neilhodgson@liverpoolecho.co.uk CAPTION(S): SHOCK NEWS: A worker from the Littlewoods Shop Direct group after being told about job cuts at the Crosby site |
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