The union representing some 3,000 staff at O2 has called on the cellco to give written assurances that jobs will not be axed following the take-over by Telefonica.

Yesterday, the Spanish telco confirmed plans to blow £18bn to acquire O2, the former mobile division of BT.

Said the CWU's Jeannie Drake: "We have received assurances that there will be no changes to the business, including no sell-off of the O2 companies Manx Telecom and Airwave.

"While we are hopeful no jobs will be lost through this take-over, we are seeking written assurances to that effect.

"The union has received preliminary assurances that the company's pension schemes will be honoured, however, once again, we will be seeking written confirmation from O2 that our members' pensions are secure," she said.

El Reg managed to track down an O2 press hombre just before he disappeared for his siesta.

"There will be no compulsory redundancies as part of the deal," he told us, "we're keeping things as they are." ®

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• Airwave strike threats as Macquarie takes over (20 April 2007)
• EC waves through O2 buy-out (11 January 2006)
• $11.5bn bid for TDC (18 November 2005)
• O2 ups revs and punters (14 November 2005)
• Deutsche Telekom backs away from O2 counterbid (2 November 2005)
• Telefonica grabs O2 from under T-Mobile's nose (31 October 2005)
• Spain's Telefonica to buy O2 (31 October 2005)
• O2 pushes ahead with super-fast mobile service (20 October 2005)
• O2 posts upbeat trading update (27 September 2005)
• Deutsche Telekom 'eyeing up O2' (26 September 2005)
• O2 confirms 3G, Wi-Fi smart phone (14 September 2005)
• KPN confirms O2 pullout (16 August 2005)