Scottish Power and Accenture in offshoring jobs betrayal

UNISON’s Scottish Electricity branch has urged ScottishPower and the IT systems company Accenture to reconsider their strategy of making 200 staff redundant in Scotland and the rest of the UK, and moving their work to India.

UNISON Scotland Regional Organiser Gerry Crawley said: “Offshoring these jobs is a betrayal of loyal and highly qualified workers. It is hard to imagine that it can be carried out without compulsory redundancies which could inevitably lead to industrial action.”

Global outsourcing company Accenture, which recently won a $200 million contract to support ScottishPower’s IT systems, has announced its intention to make 60% of the UK workforce redundant by Christmas and move most of the work to India.

More than half of the 200 jobs at risk are based at Peel Park in East Kilbride, with the remainder in North Wales. UNISON will be taking legal advice to consider whether Accenture has breached its TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings & Protection of Employment) obligations by announcing large scale redundancies immediately following a transfer.

ScottishPower was acquired by Spanish energy company Iberdrola in 2006. In February 2010, Iberdrola announced profits for its last year of 2.8 billion Euros with ScottishPower contributing 21% of underlying earnings (1.3 billion Euros).

Gerry added: “Iberdrola should remember that as a European company it has an obligation to the communities it operates in to ensure that good jobs are retained and loyal workforces are treated with respect and not contempt.”

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