Lloyds 'must stop bringing in Indian staff', says union

[OhioChick]

25th June 2009

Lloyds Banking Group should abandon its policy of flying Indian contractors to Britain to replace skilled IT staff, warned the state-backed lender's biggest union.

The LTU, which has more than 42,000 members, demanded the so-called 'Bank of Britain' ditch its offshoring policy and stop bringing overseas workers to the UK to undercut pay and replace the jobs of existing UK-based technology staff.

The union suggested Lloyds' policy was even more disturbing than that of French oil group Total in the dispute about foreign workers at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire.

LTU assistant general secretary Steve Tatlow called for the bank to halt the 'outskilling' plan following revelations in the Daily Mail that Lloyds is shipping 'hundreds' of computer specialists over to Britain to help design and operate its complex IT systems.

Tatlow fumed: 'This is a disgrace and arguably a lot worse than the causes of the Lindsey dispute.

'Here, workers from India who would otherwise have no legal right to work in the UK, are being given work visas and flown into the country to take on jobs that could otherwise be given to existing UK-based staff.

'The government should be using its 43 per cent ownership of Lloyds to force the bank's board to act in the best interest of UK jobs and the UK economy.'

A Lloyds insider this week revealed that senior managers at Lloyds are concerned about the 'knowledge gaps' of the overseas contractors. Despite this, they are working on sensitive areas such as security and risk.

Lloyds (down 1.07p at 66½p) last week imposed a 15 per cent pay cut across its entire British IT contractor base. A Lloyds' spokesman said its IT outsourcing was 'standard industry practice'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1195586/Lloyds-stop-bringing-Indian-staff-says-union.html

[DJ13]

1. ......said its IT outsourcing was 'standard industry practice'.

Well duh, thats why its a problem.
:eyes: