HP/EDS
Finance union fears for future of 200 IT jobs
Issued : 21 May 2010
IBOA The Finance Union is concerned that the jobs of up to 200 IT staff working on the Bank of Ireland contract at Hewlett Packard may now be in jeopardy after the Bank confirmed today that it will not renew the contract with HP when it expires early next year.
IBOA General Secretary, Larry Broderick, said today that his members are fearful that regardless of which of the two remaining companies - HCL and IBM - eventually wins the competition for the contract, it may be decided to reduce staff numbers in Ireland by exporting most of the work abroad.
"While our members would normally expect to transfer with the work - as they did when the work was originally contracted out of Bank of Ireland, they are seriously concerned that the new contractor may opt to use workers based overseas in low cost economies.
"As a trade union, IBOA naturally has major concerns for the livelihoods of our members and their families - especially as many of them have considerable experience working for or on behalf of Bank of Ireland.
"But we also believe that there is a very important issue of public policy at stake here. The taxpayers of Ireland have made a considerable commitment at an extremely difficult time in order to support Bank of Ireland through its current crisis. It would be an unacceptable display of ingratitude if the Bank were to repay that support by contriving to export highly skilled work out of this country at a time of mass unemployment.
"Furthermore just last week, the latest Government-sponsored report on innovation highlighted once again the critical role of the 'smart economy' in driving employment growth into the future. But the foundations of the 'smart economy' have been laid already. The work undertaken by our members in HP on behalf of Bank of Ireland is exactly the kind of knowledge- and technology-based initiatives which should be at the heart of the "smart economy." Yet it seems that a major financial institution - in which the State is a major stakeholder - may now be considering allowing a significant number of highly skilled jobs to disappear.
"Apart from the impact on these employees and their families, the State would also be short-changed in terms of lost revenues and increased expenditure - not least in the millions of euro that would have to be spent to source replacement industry.
"What we need in this instance is some joined-up thinking," said Mr. Broderick. "That is why IBOA is seeking immediate dialogue with both Bank of Ireland and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Mr. Batt O'Keeffe, TD, to ensure that appropriate commitments are in place to protect job numbers as well as the pay and terms and conditions of employment of the affected staff."
