MOMENTUM is building as efforts grow to save the 300 jobs at the EE (formally BT) site in Enniskillen.
It was announced last month that BT Group is set to close its EE office site that employs hundreds of people across the local community.
However, in the past week action has been taken to help fight the decision.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has launched a Save Our Site (SOS) campaign to prevent the loss of the much-needed jobs and livelihoods in the county.
As part of the campaign, the CWU Region along with the CWU NI Telecoms Branch (NITB) held a public meeting on Monday night at the Westville Hotel.
Hundreds of people turned out in support, with the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Michelle Gildnernew, addressing the large crowd.
Pressure was further ramped up by Stormont’s Economy Minister, Conor Murphy, who warned BT will suffer ‘reputational damage’ if it cuts 300 jobs in Enniskillen.
The warning came in a letter to the company from Mr Murphy, who became Economy Minister after the resumption of the Northern Ireland Executive last month.
“Should these job losses materialise it would be completely contrary to my economic vision and particularly to the objective of regional balance,” Mr Murphy wrote.
“It would also damage the reputation of BT.”
On taking his new role, Mr Murphy said one of his priorities was to create better “financial incentives” for investment in the North West. Closing the Fermanagh call centre runs contrary to this outlook.
Invest NI has also thrown its support behind the workers in Enniskillen.
In a letter that was due to be delivered last night to the monthly Fermanagh and Omagh District Council meeting at the Grange, Omagh, Invest NI Chief Executive, Kieran Donoghue, agreed to “meet, and to hear at first hand the concerns of your [council] members regarding the recent announcement of the review of the BT customer contact centre in Enniskillen”.
More details on the Save Our Site (SOS) campaign details can be found at https://cwunitb.org/hero/save-our-site/.
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