The information following was printed in a newspaper article from the Sun Herald forwarded to our branch by a supporter.
'Australia's No Longer "Home"for Qantas Jobs'
Qantas is set to axe 300 Australian information technology workers and send their jobs to India.
The airline said it was impossible to find enough high tech expertise in Australia to carry out computer systems maintenance and shortlisted two Indian companies to take over the work.
A review of the airline's information technology jobs has almost been completed and an announcement is expected in the next three weeks.
The Australian Services Union said Qantas had already granted a contract to one of the Indian companies that allowed 30 of it's workers to "scope out" work in the Mascot IT office.
ASU assistant national secretary Linda White was quoted as saying "At least 30 Indian nationals are working in the IT office and asking people what they are doing. To say there are not the skills here already is crap. They are asking our people how to do it."
The move is just the latest in a string of moves by big corporations to dump expensive local workers in favour of cheap foreign labour.
Public outrage forced banking giant Westpac to temporarily shelve plans to shift the jobs of 485 workers at Concord, Sydney, to Bangalore in India.
Amex is keen to employ 160 Japanese call centre staff to work in Sydney for $6000 less than the minimum wage.
Ms. White said Qantas was an iconic Australian company that was sending highly paid, highly skilled jobs offshore.
"This is pretty outrageous, particularly as the jobs are such an important part of the Qantas operation. It is also completely wrong for them to say they cannot source the levels of IT expertise they need in Australia.
"It is complete spin because they currently have 830 people already doing the job. To say otherwise is an insult to the Australian university system that is educating these people."
The paper stated the jobs at risk are in the airline's internet operation that deal with holiday bookings, frequent flyer programs, operational logistics, crew and engineering operations, financial and payroll systems.
Qantas shortlisted two Indian companies, Tata Consulting Services and Satyam to take over the work.
Both companies have stepped up their Australian presence in recent years. Tata has already signed a $3.85 million deal with the Victorian Government's Curriculum Assessment Authority that will let some work be sent overseas.
A Qantas spokeswoman indicated to the newspaper that it was finalising a review of it's IT development, maintenance and support services.
"The review has included a shortlisting of two outsource providers in India" she said.
"The providers involved in the tender process have a capability and depth of expertise that we can no longer source in Australia"
"No decisions have been made at this stage".....
END.
