Vodafone staff in Glasgow told to move or face redundancy

The call centre in Stoke is one location staff could be relocated to

More than half of Vodafone's staff in Glasgow have been given the choice of working in England or face redundancy.

About 350 workers were told on Tuesday that jobs are to be concentrated in three main centres in Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and Newbury in Berkshire.

As part of a restructure, they would have to work out of those locations.

The company says that overall, the Vodafone workforce will continue to rise.

The mobile phone business said the announcement was part of a long-term plan to reorganise its UK workforce and operations.

The customer service and technology staff were told the company was changing shape in response to competition from rival telecom and technology giants.

Staff at Vodafone's Glasgow contact centre were given the news on Tuesday

A Vodafone spokesman told the BBC: "This is a major step to us becoming the UK's leading digital technology and communications company, and reinforces our commitment to the UK.

"We recognise some employees will need to commute further and we are speaking to them individually about their specific circumstances to provide support and help them stay with us."

But staff are angry at the dilemma facing them.

One staff member told the BBC: "We were told staff were being let go in three phases, with two months notice in April, May and June.

"We were offered a redundancy package and if we wanted to relocate to Manchester, Stoke or Newbury there were some other options.

"We were then frogmarched back to the floor and told we still had our customers to serve."