Business reasons given for call centre closure

A business decision was behind the closure Friday of the Carriage Hills call centre, a company executive says.

Twenty-seven people lost their jobs when the McIntyre Street office shut its doors.

"It was strictly business decision to consolidate all of marketing operations into our Barrie call centre, said John Murphy, vice president of Shell Vacations LLC, which owns Carriage Hills Resort and its call centres.

Murphy, who works out of Shell's Phoenix offices, said it would be more efficient and "cost effective" to have all call centre employees working out of Barrie.

All of the North Bay employees were offered jobs in Barrie, Murphy added.

He also said severance pay was given to the employees "in accordance with all Canadian labour standards."

The call centre first opened in December of 2002, and Carriage Hills, at the time, had said up to 100 employees could ultimately be hired within the North Bay operation.