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British trade unions protest at feared job losses to India
London, July 17: British trade unionists yesterday took out a protest outside the annual general meeting of telecommunications giant BT Group at what they claimed was a massive loss of jobs to cheaper workers in India.
London, July 17: British trade unionists yesterday took out a protest outside the annual general meeting of telecommunications giant BT Group at what they claimed was a massive loss of jobs to cheaper workers in India.
Parading a vast pink elephant - designed to represent a 'stampede' of jobs from the country - the Communication Workers Union warned that thousands of jobs were at threat in telephone call centres.
"We have 21st century technology being used to transfer work outside the UK, which is totally unacceptable," the union's general secretary Billy Hayes said at the demonstration. "We are looking to defend our members' jobs in this country," he added.
A series of British firms have begun relocating customer-service call centres to India, where a well-educated, English-speaking workforce can be hired for a fraction of the cost of domestic employees. BT, the private successor to the Britain's former state-owned telecommunications monopoly, opened two call centres in Bangalore and New Delhi in May, which will employ 2,220 people by December, a BT spokesman said.
Similar call centres in Britain, where staff earn at least 5.80 pounds an hour - five times more than in India - employ around 17,000 people.
At the annual general meeting, BT retail chief executive Pierre Danon told shareholders that sometimes the service quality at Indian call centres was better than those in Britain.
However, he insisted no BT posts would be lost in Britain. Bureau Report
"We have 21st century technology being used to transfer work outside the UK, which is totally unacceptable," the union's general secretary Billy Hayes said at the demonstration. "We are looking to defend our members' jobs in this country," he added.
A series of British firms have begun relocating customer-service call centres to India, where a well-educated, English-speaking workforce can be hired for a fraction of the cost of domestic employees. BT, the private successor to the Britain's former state-owned telecommunications monopoly, opened two call centres in Bangalore and New Delhi in May, which will employ 2,220 people by December, a BT spokesman said.
Similar call centres in Britain, where staff earn at least 5.80 pounds an hour - five times more than in India - employ around 17,000 people.
At the annual general meeting, BT retail chief executive Pierre Danon told shareholders that sometimes the service quality at Indian call centres was better than those in Britain.
However, he insisted no BT posts would be lost in Britain. Bureau Report