Unilever axes 70 IT jobs at Bromborough, Port Sunlight and St David’s Park centres

Mar 2 2012 by Ben Bryant, Liverpool Echo

AT LEAST 70 jobs at Unilever centres in and around Merseyside have been axed.

Workers today claimed the IT jobs will move to India and voiced fears more may be earmarked for “outsourcing”.

The computer specialists, who were based at centres in Bromborough, Port Sunlight and St David’s Park, near Chester, were employed through agencies.

They received an email at around 12pm yesterday telling them to contact their agency, which delivered the news.

The workers, who were on short-term contracts, were given four weeks’ notice, which they were told they will have to work through.

The ECHO understands they range in age from around 25 to 50 and are on salaries upwards of £30,000.

Those axed include programme managers, IT technicians and senior IT engineers.

Unilever’s turnover in 2010 was about £37bn, with an operating profit of about £5bn.

One employee, who did not wish to be named, said: “This is just a couple of quid to them, but these are good, highly-paid, highly-trained, quality jobs which belong in the North West rather than India.

“When they are lost, they are lost forever.”