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Strong Virgin Media results should lead to pay rise, says CWU

8 February 2012

Reacting to Virgin Media's end of year results today (Wednesday) the Communication Workers Union welcomes the strong financial performance of the company – with annual net income tripling and profits at £75.9 million for the year – and urges for staff to be rewarded with decent pay rises for their contribution.

The union welcomes the creation of 620 directly-employed jobs in Swansea and Manchester but points out that many of these have come at the expense of more than 400 call centre staff in Liverpool who are losing their jobs in April. CWU remains concerned at the treatment of these workers who now face redundancy.

Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary, said: “We welcome Virgin Media's strong financial results which are proof of the company's success. They reflect the hard work that employees have put in day in day out over the last year to contribute to that success, and we want to see ordinary Virgin Media staff sharing in the success of the company.

“It is also welcome to see the company focusing on its customer-facing staff with the announcement that only these grades will receive a basic salary increase this year, although we expect all employees to receive bonus payouts of some description.

“CEO Neil Berkett has written to staff today expressing his gratitude for their hard work. We would like to see this gratitude reflected in a pay rise higher than the current offer of 2%.

“The creation of 620 jobs is of course welcome, but it comes at the expense of 435 jobs in Liverpool where Virgin Media is closing their Albert Dock site.

“These are solid results from a successful company which can afford to pay its staff more and keep jobs in Liverpool.”

Total revenue for the telecoms and media group for the year 2011 was just under £4 billion – up 3% compared with 2010. Operating Cash Flow was up 5.3% and Free Cash Flow was up 20.7% compared with 2010.

CWU represents Virgin Media engineers and has members across customer-facing roles in the company.



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Communication Workers Union

Communication Workers Union

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