Orange accused of outsourcing jobs to India

London, July 31 (UNI) After its decision to close the Peterlee and Solihull call centres in the United Kingdom, IT communication provider Orange is being accused of outsourcing the jobs to India.

Orange UK has announced plans to close two of its UK call centres, leading to potential redundancies of up to 1,000 staff.

The rational is the closure of a half-used building and all staff have been offered replacement positions at other call centers.

Communication Workers Union (CWU) here has, however, accused Orange of outsourcing the jobs to India, and condemned the company's decision to close the call centres.

CWU organiser Lynne Browne said, ''These staff members have a considerable length of service and have helped the company establish its market share. They are now being repaid by Orange with upheaval, disregard and poor career prospects.'' ''As the leading UK telecommunications union, we are urging Orange to enter into negotiations with the CWU to find a better way of dealing with these issues of streamlining,'' said Mr Browne.

However, Orange has denied that the closures are part of a plan to outsource more work to its Indian call centres, which is has operated since 2004.

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