METRO Mayor Andy Burnham met with Bury workers at risk of being relocated to Warrington under controversial proposals to close down the call centre operation at Dumers Lane.
Workers staged a protest against the proposals put forward by Capita, which operates the contact centre on behalf on Tesco Mobile, on Friday .
It was the third consecutive Friday, workers have gathered in a bid to persuade bosses to rethink their plans.
Mr Burnham told The Bury Times: "You have a loyal workforce here — they have also built this brand, Tesco mobile.
"This is a success story for Capita and my argument is why disrupt that, why throw that away,
"Runcorn is not easy to get to, not everyone can afford to run a car, not everyone will be able to travel there everyday."
Mr Burnham added:"We will lose important jobs to the Bury economy — we want to keep these jobs in Greater Manchester.
"I think we have a good case and I say to company sit down and talk to us, I think there are positive proposals coming from the union there are things we can do here."
He said he was hopeful that there would be talks between the two, saying Capita had responded.
"I want to hear from the staff side and union side so when we go into those talks we know what would work," said Mr Burnham.
Capita has been described as a 'vital employer' in Bury.
Communication Workers Union, Regional Secretary, Carl Webb said: "A lot of these people are heartbroken, they have invested a lot into this company. and all we are saying to the company is to invest a little bit into the workforce."
"These are the people who are delivering the profits. For customer experience they are in the top 50.
"Surely you want to keep hold of them, you want to cherish them and look after them.
"A lot of people have been here 20 years they have worked so hard, so really why should it just be the shareholders who benefit from this company."
"They should do everything in their power that the staff that want to remain in Bury can do so and work from home, which they dong at the moment they are successfully operating this company from working from home.
"We have asked Tesco Mobile to intervene and they have been silent."
Mr Webb said he was waiting for a response from the two Bury MPs.
"This is a big employer, the local businesses lose out, it is going to have a massive impact, you can't take a big chunk of jobs out without it having an impact," he said.
Capita do not own the building and under the proposals 25 per cent of the workforce would be able work from home with others being relocated to their other office.
Bury Council have offered the outsourcing giant help to find a smaller 'hub' in Bury.
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