Nortel cuts staff without pay-off

Nortel employs about 31,000 people around the world

Dozens of staff at the UK headquarters of telecoms giant Nortel in Berkshire have been laid off with immediate effect and without redundancy pay.

Nortel Networks UK, which employs 1,200 staff in Maidenhead, went into administration when its parent firm filed for US bankruptcy protection.

The staff were told at a meeting on Monday that the cuts were immediate.

Nortel would not confirm the exact job losses in Maidenhead but said 228 posts were going across the UK.

More than 80 staff at Nortel's County Antrim operation in Newtownabbey were also laid off on Monday without warning.

They've been dishonest in my view how they've done things George Dyne, laid-off worker

A Nortel spokeswoman confirmed the workers would not receive redundancy pay.

"Two hundred and twenty eight posts are going in the UK, with 86 in Northern Ireland," she said.

"But we're not breaking down the numbers any further."

The administrators for the UK operations, Ernst and Young, said staff would be eligible for statutory redundancy pay through the government.

"We will have people from Ernst and Young on site to help people fill out the paperwork," a spokeswoman said.

'Let down'

George Dyne, 57, who spent 11 years at the Maidenhead office, was one of those who lost his job.

He found out on Thursday, three working days before other staff, because he was a manager.

He said he felt "let down, basically they just don't care about you".

"I've worked every day of my life since I left school at 16, never been on strike, never been out of work.

"We work hard for the company, there's this big drive about company loyalty, help them through all the crisis, everybody's involved, then to be told this...

"They've been dishonest in my view how they've done things."

About 300 staff are also employed in London, north Lanarkshire and Harlow in Essex.

Some of the 228 job losses are also taking place at the Harlow operation, but Nortel would not confirm exact numbers.

In February, Nortel announced plans to shed 3,200 jobs from its 31,000 staff worldwide.