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London (pte026/17.03.2003/13:08) - British Telecom http://www.bt.com has announced it intends to outsource its call centre activities to former British colony India.
Two call centres with a total of 500 employees are scheduled to open in Banglaore and New Delhi in March. The number of employees is expected to grow to 2,200 over twelve months. The British Communication Workers' Union http://www.cwu.org has announced plans to fight the move.
British Telecom has issued an official statement saying no jobs will be cut in Great Britain, and arguing that those positions which have become free will simply be moved to India. But union representatives call these arguments misleading. They say each of these positions represents a job lost in Great Britain, and that BT has the responsibility to support the British economy by creating new jobs. Union leaders also believe customers do not stand to benefit from the measures - although BT will be paying its new employees only 70 pence per hour, it will continue to collect 40 pence per call.
The British telecom group argues that tough competition has forced it to take these measures http://www.btplc.com/Mediacentre/Agencynewsreleases/2003/an0332.htm .
The union is worried that once BT begins outsourcing, other companies in the sector will follow suit. Worker representatives have threatened to organize a strike http://www.cwu.org/news/newsarticle.php?id=4262 .
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