BT says any job losses will be through natural wastage

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) says the demonstration follows the company's announcement that work is being moved to India.

The company has promised that 120 workers in Barrow and Carlisle will be employed for the next three years.

But union officials say they have not been given any firm guarantee that directory enquiry calls will still be serviced in Cumbria.

A union spokesman said: "There is a guarantee of a shelf life for the Barrow and Carlisle exchanges until 2006.

"But we already know that the recruitment has slowed down to a trickle.

"By 2006 we also know the staff there will not be doing directory enquiry work, because that will have moved to the sub-continent."

BT has stressed there will be no compulsory redundancies in Cumbria and that any job losses will be managed through natural wastage.

The telecommunications giant says it plans to create 2,000 jobs at new centres in Delhi and Bangalore.

The union has already held similar protests at centres throughout the country.