26 Feb 2009
Some 130 former Legal & General (L&G) IT staff transferred to outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are at risk of losing their jobs and they say their roles could be filled by Indian workers moved to the UK.
L&G outsourced its IT development in a five-year deal with TCS in June 2008, with staff relocating to the supplier’s offices in Horley and Redhill under a TUPE agreement to offer job security to those affected.
But Computing has learned that last month TCS started a 90-day consultation period involving the ex-L&G staff, trade union Unite and an employee forum, which will aim to establish by April whether the positions will be filled by UK-based Indian staff or if the jobs will be fulfilled in India.
“The consultation process has been fraught with miscommunication and conflicting information,” said a source.
Another worker at a separate TCS office told Computing that staff had been informed last Friday that there are talks about redundancies.
“[Indian workers in the UK] are taking up our jobs, but as they are cheaper TCS has a preference to work with them instead of employees on the UK and Ireland payroll,” said the worker, requesting anonymity.
Fears over discrimination towards UK workers have been voiced by many former L&G employees now working at TCS, said Andrew Case, national secretary at Unite.
“We have asked TCS to address that issue directly and we will also be taking legal advice,” said Case.
“Whether they feel there is discrimination or not, it is important they recognise there is a legitimate concern which needs to be looked at.
“Failure to let people know what is going on will cause morale issues among the employees that are staying and, generally, leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.”
The outsourcer could not reveal what the exact staff mix for the new arrangement is likely to be, but TCS vice president and head of Europe AS Lakshminarayanan said exploring the offshore model was always part of L&G’s plan to increase efficiency.
“What we are not doing is replacing UK employees with Indian staff,” he said. “There will always be people affected by such decisions, but we are looking at how best we can redeploy that resource there is a potential that employees could take on global opportunities within other TCS contracts.”
L&G declined to comment, stating that “this is no longer our issue”.
Phones4U outsourced to TCS and most of us were made redundant. Those that were kept on mostly moved on when they could. Many jobs went to India. I was considered for a post in Ipswich and told that weekly commuting from the north wasn't acceptable and I needed to be living within 30 mins of the site and available 24/7. Not a good company and most of the staff sent over from India didn't seem to have a clue. I heard P4u and TCS were in dispute within weeks of the "Target Operating Model" implementation.
Posted by: phil 29 Apr 2010
I know one Indian who has worked here for nearly three years and is returning to India for a few months for tax reasons
--
One reason staff are sent back to India is to stop them gaining enough UK employment time, which allows them to leave TCS and find their own employment.
Posted by: Jane 05 Sep 2009
I Don't think Rishi is Indian...Indians are not looking for payback or stealing other jobs...its just that indians are specilizied in computer and some other technologies and resources cost less...so jobs are moved there.. i am indian and respect Britain for many of their innovations ...i am very sad to see comments from so called Rishi
Posted by: Darshini 20 Jul 2009
TCS outsourcing has a negative effect on the British economy - only helping the individual company doing the outsourcing.
The negative effect on the economy is:
less tax for the exchequer - Indian TCS employees whether in India or the UK don't pay UK taxes and TCS profits on the contract return to India. I know one Indian who has worked here for nearly three years and is returning to India for a few months for tax reasons.
UK nationals made redundant are likely to cost the country money in unemployment benefits rather than contribute taxes. I know three made redundant two years ago by TCS who have been unable to get any employment since other than low wage jobs.
Posted by: Martin 01 May 2009
I believe that the Tata group is highly credible organisation and they do their best for everybody. Under this current market scenario where companies are going bankrupt and closing down, Tata group is pumping millions into Jaguar Land-Rover to save it from liquidity. (See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/3899664/Tata-pumps-millions-into-Jaguar-Land-Rover.html ). Under current condition TCS (like other Indian companies) is still standing strong with its huge workforce worldwide and it can sustain this market situation easily.
But companies are not NGOs; they need work as per demand-supply conditions.
Before laying-off any people here in UK, TCS has laid-off 1000 of Indians back in India and 1000 more are sent back from UK. So it's not only the people here (UK) are facing the heat. It's happening everywhere, even in India. TCS will never do anything that will affect their credibility. But it needs to think like the business organisation and in professional manner.
Posted by: JH, Oxford 17 Mar 2009
TCS is last in the list of good Indian companies to work, they do not even pay their Indian staff working in UK fair wages, I do know how this company has survived so far, as their strategy is buy-one-staff-get-one-free. L&G should have made an agreement with TCS about their current staff, every body are so selfish in this competetive world that I think L&G only cared about cost savings and not the welfare of the ex-employees who developed their systems they are sitting on now. I blame L&G and ask them why they choose TCS they would purely cost savings.
Posted by: Kumar 13 Mar 2009
Companies move jobs and make people redundant for so called ETO reasons, but TUPE laws state, quite categorically, that the Transferee company cannot do so following a Transfer of Undertaking, if the Transferor had not intended to do so prior to that transfer, as that would quite obviously mean that the decision to do so was purely as a result of the transfer, ie if the transfer had not taken place then the redundancies would not have occurred, unless you are willing to accept that L&G had a Global Business Model that entailed shipping jobs off to India.
I really think that the L&G employees(and the toothless UNITE) have all been conned into believing TCS have acted within UK employment laws and we just have to accept it all, when TCS and other companies like them have never been challenged in the courts. In my opinion they are calling our bluff.
In the current climate, some of the old L&G IT staff would no doubt have been shown the door, because that's the limit of the thinking of the so called decision makers, who can't see further than the next share dividend, but the fact of the matter is, the very notion of restructuring a transferred workforce to fit the business model of a transferee company (and making 60+ percent redundant in the process) flies in the very face of what the TUPE laws were setup to prevent.
I think TCS planned these sackings from the start and should be brought to task over the matter in a court of law.
Posted by: M.R.Angry 12 Mar 2009
So "Rishi", you think the content of your post is acceptable, both legally and morally?
So you think its "pay back time" to the British public (who incidentally cannot be accountable for their ancestors deeds)?
Your comment could be taken to be an incitement of racial hatred, which is a criminal offence in the UK.
I am surprised that the moderator of this site has permitted such an offensive post. English and Welsh law does permit free speech, but not at the expense of others. Also, it may do people well to remember that racism, in any form, is unacceptable. Lets not have a two tier policy here please. The post, whether intended or not, is racist / offensive in content and should be removed.
For the record, it is my view that the British Government should now seek to protect the British workforce as other countries protect their nationals. Inward investment is commendable, but not at the expense of hardworking British families and those who choose to live here and engage in the British way of life.
If Labour does not want to have many more families consigned to living on the dole something needs to be done. Our heavy industry has been destroyed, leaving Britain a service sector country. Now our services are being "out sourced" and "off-shored". The cost of living means we cannot compete on price with countries where the cost of living is lower.
It should be a policy that if a non-UK business wishes to acquire a UK business, then they may do so only if they guarantee that a large percentage of the current British workforce will be maintained. There should also be a limit on the ability of UK businesses to outsource. Protectionist perhaps, but how else can the British workforce compete and survive this economic crisis?
Posted by: KB, Cardiff 10 Mar 2009
Very sad to see this happening in a developed country like 'Britain' who once used to rule the world and also ruled India for 200 years....
Its pay back time you Brits, and the Indians shall take over your job, property, insurance you think and Indian would do that...
cheers and enjoy your fish and chips with beer....
Posted by: Rishi 05 Mar 2009
Two points - firstly Tata PR statements are referring to this as a performance review not of the contract but of the people.Feel free to agree with them if you feel that nearly half of the people that we transferred with are not performing and don't deserve a job. Secondly, whilst we certainly didn't deserve the treatment last year from L&G, redeployment means changing to new TCS contracts - less annual leave, more working hours and a susbstantial loss of benefits.Maybe I'm looking at the wrong sheets but how many of the other TCS jobs didn't mean moving house, travelling more than 4 hours a day or staying away from home at your own cost for most of the working week.
Posted by: Thomas 01 Mar 2009
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