Dave S

Northumberland

IT Professional

Great! - and about time too. They will certainly get my custom.

I was a holder of a TSB credit card until they announced the closure of a call centre based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Lloyds TSB has now promised to find jobs for all the affected workers within their other operations (but it's still moving the call centre jobs to India). Surely similar customer actions caused the rethink. I'm thinking of similar action against Barclays following recent announcements from them.

Interesting that Northern Rock (with their head office in Newcastle) are claiming to have ties to the community - last year they announced the closure of several network branches in the North East, and in areas where local people had no other access to their services. They can't have it both ways. Some of the closed branches are to be reopened by another locally based financial institution - a MUTUAL building society. You could argue it serves the customers right that they sold out to allow a financial gain when they voted for Northern Rock's flotation. Perhaps there is really an underlying demand for mutual institutions - bear that in mind when Standard Life promise you riches beyond your dreams.

Don't forget, the cost savings achieved by moving jobs abroad will mainly go towards the bonus payments of CEOs etc. The redundant worker's unemployment benefits will be paid by YOU, the taxpayer.

I should also mention that I too lost my job several years ago when a multinational decided they could make things cheaper abroad - there is more to economics than basic selling price.