SEE YOU PAL.. YOU’RE A DISGRACE
Vodafone boss sends tasteless pic posing with Jimmy wig and Irn-Bru to worried Scots workers waiting for news of job losses
A VODAFONE boss has been pictured joking about Scotland hours before 360 of his workers in Glasgow face being given the axe.
Antonio Shabbir put on a See You Jimmy hat and held a bottle of Irn-Bru in the snap posted to the mobile phone firm’s internal system yesterday.
Today, the customer operations director will appear before the firm’s workforce in Glasgow’s Berkeley Street to speak about their jobs which, according to proposals revealed last month, are set to be moved to Manchester.
Several workers contacted the Record yesterday to flag up the post.
In it, a grinning Shabbir is pictured with the caption: “Getting ready for this month’s ‘Audience with Antonio’… some exciting news to share.”
The company apologised for the post last night.
Scots workers waiting to learn their fate saw the post from their desks on Workspace, an internal work platform used by Vodafone employees.
It caused so much uproar that the photo was deleted later in the day.
Last month, the Record told how 360 jobs at Vodafone offices in Glasgow would be relocated to Manchester next month.
Livid employees claim they had until today to volunteer to up sticks and move down south. It is believed that four waves of jobs will be affected by the restructure.
Group one is expecting to be informed today while others will be left until July.
Each employee affected will have 60 days to accept the move or lose their job.
One furious Vodafone worker told the Record: “The whole thing is ridiculous.
“In work, everyone is so nervous. There’s a real anxiety about the place. People’s livelihoods are at stake.
“Some will have to wait until July to find out if they have a permanent job. To then see this photo is horrible.”
Shabbir has worked for Vodafone for more than seven years and has been the customer operations director for two years and five months, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He has previously held top jobs in mobile phone firms EE and T-Mobile.
Workers took to Workplace in their droves slamming the post, according to screenshots seeen by the Record.
One commented on the photo: “A bit distasteful when our office in Scotland is being taken down south and we find out who’s going first tomorrow.”
Another added: “Is this really how a professional business goes about its business?
“Here we are in Scotland sitting at our desks waiting to hear news of our pending redundancies and this pops up.
“What’s the news? We’ve binned 350 plus jobs?”
A third worker posted: “Astonished at this. Multiple redundancies in Scotland and this is what a senior leader posts? Truly awful.”
A spokesman for Vodafone UK said: “It was an internal event. No offence was meant and we apologise unreservedly.”
Shadow Scotland Office Minister and Glasgow North East MP, Paul Sweeney, said last night: “This looks insensitive at best and utterly callous at worst.
“This is a time of great uncertainty for 350 Glasgow workers and their families including my constituents.
“They deserve better than a boss who thinks this is an appropriate moment for crass humour and dressing up.
“These potential job losses are no joke. A company with the profitablity of Vodafone should immediately commit to the future of its operations in Glasgow and lift the threat to these workers.”