Hundreds of Qantas jobs to go to India
Australia is set to lose of hundreds of Qantas information technology jobs to India, with the airline saying skills needed to upgrade its systems are no longer available in Australia.
Qantas Chief Information Officer John Willett said yesterday two Indian companies, other sources have reported as Tata Consultancy Services and Satyam, have been shortlisted to take over the airline’s IT development, maintenance and support services, adding “The providers involved in the tender process have the capabilities and depth of expertise that we can no longer source in Australia”.
Jobs at risk are in the airline’s internet operations that deal with holiday bookings, frequent-flyer programs, operational logistics, crew and engineering operations, financial and payroll systems.
The Australian Services Union has opposed the proposal that will take jobs from at least 300 IT workers in Australia saying that Qantas had already granted a contract to one of the Indian companies allowing 30 of its workers to “scope out” work in the Qantas Mascot IT office.
Mr Willett said, “If people want Qantas to be competitive and successful, and to continue to employ tens of thousands of Australians as we currently do, we need to be able to have the greatest possible flexibility in all areas of our business with IT being no exception.”
Prime Minister John Howard has refused to enter the debate over the IT jobs being moved to India, saying staff decisions are a matter for the employer.
The number of jobs going offshore is picking up pace as organisations seek ways to cut costs by outsourcing back office operations to India, with Westpac considering sending 485 call centre jobs to India and Tata having already signed a US$ 3.85 million deal with the Victorian Government’s Curriculum Assessment Authority.
A decision on the Qantas Australian job cuts is expected to be made at a Qantas board meeting in about two weeks.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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