TUI UK is planning to outsource dozens of Coventry-based
IT and adminstration jobs to India.
This is in addition to 90 Coventry-based jobs thought to be at
risk from redundancy under TUI’s recent cost-cutting plans to
axe 800 jobs across the business.
The outsourcing – understood to involve a three-month
pilot with an India-based company – has angered union
officials.
A Transport Salaried Staff’s Association spokesman said:
“We are talking to the employer about improving efficiency but the
answer doesn’t lie in chasing the globe for the cheapest
source of labour. It’s India now, will it be China next?”
A TUI spokeswoman said no official statement had been released
by the company.
The news comes as TUI UK managing director Peter Rothwell
admitted London head-office staff are “disappointed” with the
company’s decision to move premises from Camden to Luton. The
new building is near its Britannia offices.
“Most of our staff live in London and have based their lives
around working in Camden,” he said.
Speaking at a Captains of Industry lunch at World Travel Market,
Rothwell revealed only a “small number” of the 900 head-office
staff would go to Luton. Financial incentives, including travelling
expenses and relocation budgets, will aim to encourage staff to
move.
Rothwell said the transfer, scrapping of the Lunn Poly brand and
the 800 redundancies, was to compete with the on-line players. He
added: “We cannot continue to spend tens of millions of pounds
supporting two brands. I had to have the guts to change it.”