AXE FEARS FOR 100O JOBS; EXCLUSIVE Workers accuse bosses of burying bad news after US takeover.

Byline: By RAYMOND HAINEY

MORE than 1000 Scots telecom workers have been warned their jobs are under threat after their firm was taken over.

Workers at two Thus offices will be hit by cuts because of US giant Cable & Wireless's buy-out.

Thus have 800 staff at their head office in Glasgow and 200 in Livingston.

C&W say they will sack staff who do the same jobs as their own employees.

Last night the firm were accused of trying to bury the bad news in the minutes of a management meeting.

One worker at Livingston claimed staff were not officially told about job losses.

He said: "Nobody really noticed until the minutes were sent out to workers in an email.

"The average guy isn't going to read through the entire minutes of a meeting.

"They said they were a fair company and would act in a transparent manner - that's not what we're seeing." Scotland was last week rocked by the loss of 1000 jobs at the Freescale computer chip plant in East Kilbride.

The global financial crisis has led to rocketing unemployment, with experts predicting a jobless total of two million by Christmas. UK unemployment is at its highest since 1999 and Scotland has suffered a sharper rise than England.

In the three months from July to August, Scottish unemployment soared by 19,000 to 124,000.

Thus - formerly known as Scottish Telecom - supplies businesses with telephone and internet services. Its clients include struggling Royal Bank of Scotland.

Staff are under a 90-day consultation as their jobs are reviewed. The firm insist they have not decided which posts will go, leaving workers facing a tense time in the run up to Christmas.

The jobs blow only emerged when staff spotted it in minutes of the nonunion plant's Exchange Forum - an informal group involving management and shop floor representatives. It met less than a week after C&W took over.

C&W said: "As part of the integration of Thus Group, Cable & Wireless will create a subsidiary business focused purely on mid-market customers.

"This will involve existing customers from both Cable & Wireless and Thus Group. While integrating the business, duplication of roles and operations has been identified and there will redundancies at Thus."

Livingston MP Jim Devine accused C&W of leaving workers in the dark.

He said: "It's not acceptable for a firm of the size, standing and profitability of Cable & Wireless to behave like this.

"My concern is that they cannot specify how many jobs will go. They have said the Livingston operation will not close but I amstill very worried that a considerable number of jobs will be lost, not only in Livingston but in Glasgow."

Glasgow MP Mohammed Sarwar, whose constituency takes in the Berkeley Street Thus HQ, said: "I will be contacting Cable & Wireless first thing on Monday morning.

"This is extremely worrying and I will be doing everything I can to try and safeguard jobs for Scotland.

"It's very bad news for the country and Glasgow, particularly when we are pumping so much money into the banking system to protect jobs."

He added: "I feel extremely angry that the firm didn't have the courtesy to bring this to the attention of the elected representative for the area.

"It seems extremely secretive."

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CAPTION(S):

Furious: MP Jim Devine demands C&W give workers answers; Bad call: Thus' HQ in Glasgow's Berkeley Street has big business clients; Under threat: Entrance to Thus's Livingston offices; Global giant: C&W say posts will go after takeover