Good news for laid-off call centre staff

SYDNEY, N.S. •Capebreton call centre workers laid off just weeks before Christmas may now have jobs to return to in the new year.

“There will be Christmas — there is some hope here,” said Michelle Hillier, who worked at Servicom Canada for five years before being forced on the unemployment line this month along with more than 600 colleagues.

“If the jobs are there, I’m walking right back through the doors again.”

The reopening of the call centre would be significant for Cape Breton, a region with perennially high unemployment. An Iowabased businessman offered $1.5-million for the call centre in an auction this week that was part of bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. The centre was abruptly closed Dec. 6 after Servicom’s U.S. parent, JNET Communications, filed for protection.

Anthony Marlowe of Marlowe Cos. Inc. (MCI) outbid two other interested parties and was expected to meet with workers Thursday.

“I was thrilled to find out that somebody is buying it and we could all have our jobs back,” said Chauncey Sullivan, who worked at the call centre for almost three years.

She said the mass layoff was “heartbreaking” but that “Capers” have pulled together. The community raised money for the laid-off workers, and the Salvation Army provided food and payments for home heating oil and electric bills.

Most of the workers were owed about four weeks in back pay, a liability MCI Canada said rests with Servicom.

Justin Boutilier, who worked at the call centre for more than a decade, said while it’s great to see the call centre reopen, there’s a flip side. “A lot of people are owed thousands of dollars ... it leaves a little bit of a sour taste,” he said.