By Conor Sharkey

ALLSTATE, formerly Northbrook Technology, moved this week to silence the alarm bells which have been ringing since they informed employees that one of the plant's operations is being relocated to India.

It is understood fourteen workers will be affected when the data analysing operation is moved over the summer months.

The news was relayed to employees last week, along with an assurance from Allstate's area leader Karen Sleat that new assignments would be found for those affected. Ms Sleat added that "none of you should be concerned about this business decision".

That assurance however does not appear to have settled the nerves of the firm's workers.

Earlier this week, a number of employees forwarded copies of the internal email about the imminent transition to India to the Strabane Chronicle.

On Tuesday, Ms Sleat reiterated that the move was simply part of the company's restructuring process and that it would not result in redundencies.

"This is about us becoming a more strategic partner with the rest of Allstate and to provide a wider range of work opportunities that aren't just manual processing positions.

"Everyone affected will be afforded retraining opportunities in different departments and that will go on over the summer," Ms Sleat said.

The area manager added that in the field of IT, changes such as those taking place at Allstate at present are par for the course.

"I'm sure this will be disappointing for the people who are doing the 10 Key Processing, but I believe the change we have in this company is good for the organisation overall. We had start-of-year meetings where we said we were aiming to move work on and bring in higher value work, because we are an IT Technology company and it is about constant change. This change will open new opportunities and new work to the company.

"As long as we can continue to provide good work, we will remain committed to Strabane," Ms Sleat said.

And while all sounds fine with one of the town's main employers, local councillor Eugene McMenamin said he would be speaking to the firm's Managing Director about the transfer to India.

"Any removal or transfer of jobs always raises concerns, regardless of what reasons are given. But thankfully there are no redundancies.

"Going back to 2002, when I was council chairman, myself and the Council's economic development officer met with Northbrook officials including Managing Director Bro McFerran and we built a good rapport with each other. This is one thing I will be contacting him about, to raise my concerns. I will also be raising it with the economic development officer Geraldine Stafford at the first given opportunity," Mr McMenamin said.

Head of Strabane's Employment Task Force Jarlath McNulty said he too would be asking Ms Stafford to seek clarification from Allstate on the issue.

'As long as we can continue to provide good work, we will remain committed to Strabane'

– Sleat