British Telecom's decision to close their logistics service centre in Bradford with the loss of thirty jobs has been condemned by the Communications Workers' Union.

Mark Elwin, from the CWU's Leeds and Bradford branch, said its members were genuinely shocked when they first heard about the possibility of closure.

He accused British Telecom of having no commitment to the city, leaving it a 'ghost town' by pulling out, something British Telecom strongly denies..

Mr Elwen said: "As far as BT goes, Bradford is becoming a ghost town. BT have again shown that they have no commitment to their employees or to the City of Bradford.

"Although BT do have another call centre in Bradford this is manned mainly by agency staff who earn less money than BT employees and have no permanent job."

But British Telecom hit back.

A company spokesman said: "That's rubbish - we've just announced 60 new jobs in Bradford at the Sharpe's Street telephone exchange in the city centre.

"Yes, we do employ some agency staff, but that's because there are people who want to work part-time or some women who want to get back into work.

"It means we have the flexibility to take on more staff during busier periods or reduce the number when there is a slack period."

Mr Elwen said the thirty Staff from the logistics centre were asked by British Telecom to decide whether they wanted to move within the company or accept redundancy terms before April 1, before the company had confirmed the centre would shut.

A British Telecom spokesman said this was the case to allow the company forward planning but added 13 of the 30 staff had taken a release package.

The spokesman said the remainder could move to other jobs within the company.

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