‘As reckless as it is ruthless’

More than 800 HSBC workers will lose their jobs today (May 25) to cheap labour abroad, in a move which Unite said “was as reckless as it is ruthless.”

The banking giant announced 840 IT jobs are to go to Poland, India and China, with 595 redundancies in Sheffield alone. HSBC employees in Birmingham, Leeds and London are also facing the axe.

The cut backs are the first big wave of a plan to shrink the bank’s 48,000 strong UK workforce by 8,000 people, which was announced last June.

Adding insult to injury the workers are expected to train their successors before they lose their jobs.

A HSBC IT Unite member, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “We’ve had this looming over us for a year now. What makes it worse is that we’ve been told that we’re expected to train people in India and China to do our jobs for less money. It’s a complete insult.

‘Saving money’

“There’s no way that this won’t impact customers. If your bank card stops working at 4 pm on a Friday and the IT support needed to fix the problem is in China, 12 or 14 hours ahead, there’s simply no way the bank will be able to respond in time. It’s all about saving money.”

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said the job losses and the way they have been handled are, “a deeply cynical move by a bank which wants to be an ‘Employer of Choice.’

“HSBC’s decision to axe so many IT jobs is as ruthless as it is reckless.

“For almost a year staff have been left in the dark about their futures only to be told that before being shown the door they’re expected to train someone in India or China who will do their job for less money,” said Hook.

Despite HSBC’s claims that moving the jobs abroad form part of a ‘large and ongoing IT investment to build a global world-class IT infrastructure’, Hook said the relocations will affect customer service at the bank.

“Offshoring IT jobs to so-called ‘low cost economies’ is extremely short sighted. As IT glitches across the banks continue to prove, it is ultimately the customers who will suffer the consequences,” he explained.

“Unite will continue to support our members throughout this process and work with our sister international trade unions to end this cynical race to the bottom.”

Pic by Mark Harvey