CALL centre staff from one of Newport's largest employers will stage a protest tonight following the announcement of up to 90 job losses yesterday.

As later editions of the Argus reported yesterday, Lloyds TSB Insurance - which employs over 1,800 people in the city - announced the cuts yesterday as part of a restructuring process.

The company said it hoped to manage the reductions through non-replacement and redeployment of staff and some voluntary redundancies.

A spokeswoman said compulsory redundancies would be "an absolute last resort", and stressed the cuts are not linked to the company's plans to outsource jobs to India. One Lloyds TSB employee, who asked not to be named, said: "I'm shocked, really. We knew something was coming but we didn't really know what."

Another employee said: "Everything is being kept very hush-hush at the moment and everybody is being kept in the dark.

"Nobody really knows what is going on at the company. "We are being told that as long as the centre is making a profit they will keep it open. Personally I think the centre will close sooner or later - it's just a question of when."

But the Lloyds TSB workers' union expressed concerns that the two were linked.

Assistant secretary Peter O'Grady said: "Our concern is over whether it may have potential India connotations for the future.

"We do have concerns in South Wales, and when there are announcements like this it is difficult not to link the two together." One member of Lloyds TSB staff said: "Managers and other staff have been told their jobs just do not exist anymore. "There have been a lot of tears."

Tonight's protest is focusing on the company's plans to transfer up to 1,500 UK jobs from Lloyds TSB to Bangalore, India.

The protest will take place outside the Wales Call Centre Awards at the Cardiff International Arena.

This afternoon, union members and staff were due to be outside branches of Lloyds TSB in Newport, gathering signatures for a petition protesting against the plans.