A UNION representing bank staff staged a demonstration in Newport yesterday amid fears the city could lose call centre jobs to India.

The Lloyds TSB Group Union (LTU) members campaigned outside two of the bank's branches in Commercial Street as fears mount among workers across the call centre industry in the UK that companies will seek cheaper workforces in India.

Staff asked bank customers to sign a petition in support of their fight to stop out-sourcing of jobs.

This protest came a day after Lloyds TSB, which employs 1,800 people in the city at Tredegar Park, announced 90 job losses as part of a general restructuring process.

Peter O'Grady, assistant secretary of LTU, said: "With the bank's Newcastle contact centre already to close, the union is concerned the two based in Newport and Bridgend could eventually follow.

"Transferring work abroad not only has a direct affect on those staff who lose their jobs, but wider repercussions for the local economy."

He said the union was asking customers to write to the bank's chief executive saying they did not want their accounts dealt with abroad. Customer Robert Boots, a process technician from Newport, said he would close his bank account if work was taken abroad.

He said: "I have banked with them for 20 years but I will transfer to another bank. People are going to lose their jobs and it is just cost-cutting."

A spokesman for Lloyds TSB said: "When we made the announcement of the closure of the Newcastle call centre in October 2003, we said then that no other call centre would be affected by that move."