Prime Minister David Cameron has agreed to set up a task force including Government Ministers to help nearly 700 Black Country British Gas workers threatened with losing their jobs.
He told the House of Commons that Ministers would work with British Gas and the local community to try to save jobs - or ensure that staff made redundant were given training to help them find something else.
Mr Cameron was speaking after local MP John Spellar (Lab Warley) said the job cuts were “devastating news”.
British Gas, which is part of utility group Centrica, has announced plans to close its office in Oldbury, resulting in the loss of 684 office and call centre roles.
And it has launched a 45-day consultation with affected workers and unions.
Some of those affected could be offered new jobs within British Gas.
But trade union UNISON has warned that with almost 700 posts being axed, compulsory redundancies willl be hard to avoid.
Read more: British Gas to axe almost 700 Black Country jobs
Mr Spellar highlighted “the devastating news that British gas propose to close their Oldbury site with the loss of 700 jobs.”
He asked Mr Cameron: “Will the prime Minister instruct his ministers to immediately contact the company and the unions, and to arrange urgent meetings preferably to save these jobs or, if that proves impossible, to establish a task force to create alternative opportunities for this loyal and had working workforce?”
The Prime Minister told him: “I can certainly give the honourable gentleman that assurance.
“We will make sure that a taskforce of ministers is available to talk to the company, to talk to the local community, to provide all the assistance in terms of retraining and other things that can be done to help.”
The news is the second major jobs blow for the West Midlands in 24 hours after Aston Villa confirmed they could lose around 500 staff as the club faces up to life in the Championship next season.
Claire Miles, managing director of customer operations at British Gas, said: “Since last summer, British Gas has been implementing a strategy to improve service and reduce costs, to ensure we can price competitively.
“We must also respond to the changing needs of our customers and they increasingly want to contact us online.
“For these reasons, we are planning to consolidate our activity on fewer sites and we have made the difficult decision to propose closing our Oldbury office and call centre.
“I recognise that today’s announcement represents difficult news....our priority now is to support all those potentially impacted and to ensure a fair and transparent consultation process, working with our people and their representatives.”
UNISON national energy officer Matt Lay said: “This is terrible news for the company’s Birmingham-based employees, who will be devastated at the prospect of losing their jobs. British Gas might be losing customers, but it’s still a very profitable business.
“The scale of the cuts will make compulsory redundancies hard to avoid. We’ll now be working closely with British Gas to make sure that all workers affected are given as much help as possible to find new jobs, either within the company or with other employers in the area.”
