NORWICH UNION Insurance employees in Dundee reacted with fury after a politician described them as call centre workers during a debate in the Scottish Parliament.

On Thursday, Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick questioned the enterprise minister over the firm’s plan to relocate 350 jobs to Perth.

He referred to the offices affected as a call centre and, after The Courier reported the proceedings at Holyrood, we were inundated by employees who took exception to the term.

One worker, who asked not to be identified, said, “We are highly skilled underwriters, and to be honest we resent the implication that anyone could walk in off the street and do this job.

“It takes many hours of training to gain the knowledge and skill we have, and to be referred to as a call centre is demeaning and distressing to the staff who are already worried regarding the current state of affairs.”

A spokesperson for the MSP last night clarified the role of Norwich Union Insurance’s Dundee workforce.

The spokesperson said, “Joe FitzPatrick MSP is aware that it isn’t actually a call centre.”

He added, “The whole context of the debate in parliament was that it would be unfortunate if the vast skill level of these employees was lost to Dundee, so it is unfortunate the use of the word call centre has became the focus.”

The official record of Thursday’s proceedings in the Scottish Parliament quotes the MSP as saying, “In offering an enhanced package to encourage workers to relocate to Perth, Norwich Union has recognised the high level of skills of its Dundee workforce.

“The best way to ensure that those skills are not lost to Dundee’s economy is for another company to take over the Dundee call centre with its trained staff.

“Will the minister agree to work with Scottish Enterprise Tayside, Dundee City Council and Norwich Union to ensure that the call centre is marketed, in the hope that it can be taken on as a going concern?”

Norwich Union Insurance plans to shut its general insurance operations in 13 UK centres, including its Dundee office at the Technology Park, by the end of 2010.

The company is set to close many branches, with UK-wide losses of between 1500 and 1800 jobs, as it looks to consolidate its general insurance operations into seven centres.