NEWS RELEASE Thursday, 25 November 2004
Call centre offshoring not Inevitable - STUC The STUC has today (Friday 26th November 2004) published a strategy to sustain and improve call centre jobs in Scotland, placing it in the context of the trade union response to the wider globalisation agenda.
Speaking on publication of the STUC's Call Centre Strategy for Scotland, Stephen Boyd, STUC Assistant Secretary said,
"Recently there has been a lot of speculation, much of it ill informed, about the prospects for Scotland's Call Centre's. The STUC doesn't believe it is inevitable that these important jobs are destined for low wage economies and we challenge the view that Ministers are helpless to act in the face of international market forces".
The STUC believes that the Scottish Executive can and should act now to help ensure that call centre jobs in Scotland are improved and sustained. The call centre industry provides important jobs often in areas that have been ravaged by the decline in manufacturing. A major concern is that the financial services sector, which has driven recent growth in Scotland, is under particular threat from future outsourcing.
Stephen Boyd added, "The crucial issue is what more can be done to ensure that Scotland's competitive advantage is enhanced in relation to higher value call centre work. The enterprise networks must ensure that employers are encouraged and supported to train their employees in the language and higher-level ICT skills that will be so important to the call centre work of the future. Ministers must also do more to promote the industry".
The STUC has today sent its Call Centre Strategy for Scotland to Ministers and Scottish Enterprise.
ENDS
For further information please contact Stephen Boyd
Tel: 0141 337 8100 / Fax: 0141 337 8101 www.stuc.org.uk
Information for editors
Call Centres are vitally important to Scotland's economy. There are 290 call centres in Scotland employing 56,000 people, one in 43 (2.3%) of the working population.
It is true that, to date, outsourcing to India has had only the most marginal effect on call centre jobs in Scotland. Indeed, Scotland's call centre industry has experienced considerable recent growth:
· The number of call centres increased from 220 to 290 and employment by 10,000 over the period 2000 and 2003; · Ninety-two call centres predict increased employment by 2006; and, · Between 2000 and 2003, 36 call centres closed in Scotland, mainly through the crisis of profitability in telecommunications, company rationalisation, continued weakness of demand and the vulnerability of domestic outsourcers.
Research by Taylor and Bain has found that:
· Half the companies who already outsource have stated their intention to increase that activity in the next 2 years; · Amongst those companies who do not currently outsource, the number who have stated that they will either definitely, or possibly, outsource to India increases as the future time frame is extended; · Amongst those who have already outsourced and those stating an intention to do so, financial services companies are prominent with insurance companies ushering in a first wave and banks following; · The further into the future companies intentions are examined, the greater the interest in outsourcing from companies in diverse sectors telecoms, computing, holidays/travel; · The companies who have already outsourced or are expressing an intention to do so, are amongst the largest and operate call centres which are bigger that the industry average.