Long way to go for rail times as BT exports jobs

BT
is offshoring around 250 UK rail enquiry call centre jobs to Bangalore in
India.

The
move is part of a new £100m contract awarded by the Association of Train
Operating Companies (ATOC) to BT and contact centre firm Ventura.

BT’s
calls will be answered by its partner Clientlogic at centres in the UK and at
Bangalore in India, while some of Ventura’s calls will go to Bombay.

Under
the new contracts – which begin in April – up to half of the calls taken by the
enquiries line will be handled in India.

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However,
union Amicus – which has strongly opposed the trend of firms shifting call
centre jobs to India – was not impressed with ATOC’s decision.

David
Fleming, general secretary, said: "Our main concern is that when firms
such as Littlewoods are coming back from India to the UK because of concerns
over India, why does ATOC think it makes financial sense to send jobs thousands
of miles away?"