HP/EDS
Job fears as BoI ends outsourcing contract with Hewlett Packard
Issued : 22 May 2010
Irish Independent
Bank of Ireland has said it will not renew a multi-million euro IT contract with Hewlett Packard when it expires next year, prompting unions to claim that up to 300 jobs will be affected.
The bank revealed yesteday it had short-listed two suppliers, IBM and HCL Technologies, for the new contract, which is believed to last five years. A final decision is expected around August.
Sourves close to BoI ssaid that the 200 workers - who orginally moved from the bank six years ago - were protected by Protection of Employees (on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations and were expected to transfer to the new service provider. It is understood than HP has an addtional 100 people in Leixlip working on the BoI account.
"A key priority for the bank as go through the selection process is to maximise job security in Ireland," a spokesperson for the bank said.
But Irish Bank Officials Association General Secretary Larry Broderick called on BoI to set as a condition of the new contract that the service provider guarantee a certain number of jobs.
"While our members would normally expect to transfer with the work - as they di when the work was originally contracted out of BoI - they are seriously concerned that the new contractor may opt at some point in the future to use workers based overseas in low-cost economies," Mr. Broderick said,
US technology giant IBM employs 3,000 people in Ireland.
It is understood that INdian group, HCL, which employs about 2,500 in Northern Ireland, has pitched setting up a base in the Republic as partof its bid to secure the contract,
"We will expect the same commitment that BoI got from HP, which guaranteed 200 jobs and terms and conditions," Mr. Broderick said,
Joe Brennan
