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| Ageas Retail: Talks over 200 Belfast call centre jobs | |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| Politicians and government agencies are meeting with the management of Ageas Retail on Thursday, after the company announced 200 jobs losses in west Belfast. | |
| The company is closing its call centre at Springvale Business Park. | |
| It provides outbound calls to potential customers for insurance firms RIAS and Castle Cover. | |
| The firm said the Belfast site has become "increasingly uneconomical" due to changing consumer behaviour. | The firm said the Belfast site has become "increasingly uneconomical" due to changing consumer behaviour. |
| A 90-day redundancy consultation period has started. | A 90-day redundancy consultation period has started. |
| SDLP assembly member Alex Attwood said it was a devastating blow for west Belfast and had not been expected. | |
| "I am urging Ageas Belfast to hold back on any final decision, to meet political representatives, the enterprise minister and Invest NI to seek answers to this critical situation," he said. | |
| "Those workers had no idea of anything that was coming and, as best as I can determine, nobody in any of the government or economic agencies in Northern Ireland knew that anything was coming," he said. | |
| "All the indications were over the last number of years that business was good." | |
| The firm has said it will "do all it can to help employees find alternative employment". | The firm has said it will "do all it can to help employees find alternative employment". |
| One employee said the workers had had no advance notice of the move and it had come as a "terrible shock". | One employee said the workers had had no advance notice of the move and it had come as a "terrible shock". |
| Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey said he was shocked by the news. | Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey said he was shocked by the news. |
| "I was extremely disappointed that Ageas Retail have announced a 90-day consultation on the future of 200 jobs at its west Belfast site," he said. | "I was extremely disappointed that Ageas Retail have announced a 90-day consultation on the future of 200 jobs at its west Belfast site," he said. |
| "This decision has come out of the blue to staff who are understandably shocked. Some of them left today in tears concerned about their future." | "This decision has come out of the blue to staff who are understandably shocked. Some of them left today in tears concerned about their future." |
| Mr Maskey said he would be "engaging" with the company throughout the consultation process to ensure that everything possible was done to help staff find alternative employment. | Mr Maskey said he would be "engaging" with the company throughout the consultation process to ensure that everything possible was done to help staff find alternative employment. |