The young people are out on the streets in countries like Spain, Greece and even Italy because they are living with the human effects of big industries outsourcing their production to countries like Bangladesh, Haiti or Dhaka where they can pay workers a percentage of what they would have to pay in Milan”, says Fr Michael Czerny S.J. The official from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace was speaking on the sidelines of a special one day workshop sponsored by the Council and drawing together Italian Union representatives to discuss the impact of the “Industry and Outsourcing”.

Chaired by Council President Card. Peter Turkson, the encounter includes interventions by UGL secretary general Giovanni Centrella and Luigi Sbarra of Cisl, on the impact of the current economic crisis, as well as analysis and proposals to prevent the flight of key employers to developing countries.

“The short term effects for industry may be larger profit margins”, noted Fr. Czerny, “but the long term effects on national economies, society and families may not be worth it”. “It has all the effects that human life gets reduced to sub minimal standards, so for example the very normal and healthy desire to settle down and have a family becomes impossible as you have no steady guarantee of income. So outsourcing, while it might reduce some costs quickly, in the long run is generating social upheaval and leading to a deterioration of human life. Outsourcing means short term decisions that are leading to the destruction of man”

Source:http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=490465

Though Half Moon Bay will oversee its own recreation programs this summer, San Carlos will begin a contract to provide services on July 15, according to Katie Crowder, Assistant to the City Manager of Half Moon Bay.

The contract is expected to save Half Moon Bay $222,441 each year, a city staff report details.

By Sept. 1, two Recreation Department employees—Supervisor Dirk Alvarado and Administrative Assistant Caroline Weigandt—will be laid off and the department will be completely transitioned to San Carlos, according to Crowder.

San Carlos Recreation Director Doug Long spoke to the Half Moon Bay City Council at a special meeting on Tuesday night where details of the two-year contract (with options to renew for one year each) between the two cities were discussed.

Crowder and Half Moon Bay City Councilmember Marina Fraser both said that they expect the contract to come before the council for approval on June 7.

On July 15, San Carlos will start to provide 15 customer service hours per week at the Ted Adcock Senior/Community Center.

“The exact days and hours would be determined by need and peak usage times,” said Crowder.

Over the summer, there will be some crossover and transition time with San Carlos and Alvarado and Weigandt.

Preserving the acccess of the nonprofit Senior Coastsiders as a location for its programming—including classes and lunch—to the Ted Adcock Senior/Community Center was a concern to some before the city voted to outsource its recreation services on April 2. San Carlos will take over facility management of the Senior/Community Center, the Train Depot and Smith Field.

“I am very happy that the Parks and Recreation team we’re working with will be collaborating with Senior Coastsiders to make sure they have access to facilities,” said Half Moon Bay city councilman Rick Kowalczyk Wednesday night.

On Tuesday night, council members discussed the continued publication of a recreation guide three times a year with mailings to Half Moon Bay, Montara, Moss Beach and El Granada. The city will contribute $19,000 towards the guides’ publication each year. Online registration for recreation classes will be available through the City of Half Moon Bay’s website.

Earlier this week on Monday, Half Moon Bay hosted an information session to all of its recreation vendors to inform them about the transition.

Source:http://halfmoonbay.patch.com/articles/outsourcing-recreation-services-to-begin-july-15

Eversheds has cut 75 jobs across its Birmingham, Cardiff and Leeds offices as a result of a back-office outsourcing agreement with Accenture it announced in August last year.

The outsourcing, which has seen more than 350 of Eversheds’ financial support processes taken on by Accenture in Bangalore since the deal was agreed, is due to be completed by September, with the firm predicting no further redundancies.

The bulk of the job losses were in Birmingham, where 10 were made redundant in human resources (HR) as well as 20 in financial services, while Cardiff saw 20 redundancies in its financial services team and Leeds 15 in financial services support. Overall, the back-office team has shrunk by 88 roles, with 13 departures attributed to 
natural attrition.

The final tally is lower than initially expected as the consultation looked at 100 jobs in finance and HR across the three offices as a result of the Accenture deal, which covers matters such as general accounting, billing and collections, and business processes involved from procurement to payments.

Eversheds managing partner Lee Ranson commented: “It has been a staggered process, where we haven’t proceeded until certain quality thresholds were reached. As we’ve gone through the process we have tried to add and retain people wherever necessary.”

The final phase of the transfer will see more of the HR processes moving to Bangalore.

Eversheds’ UK financial support department now has 75 full-time staff with a further 60 staff in its HR team.

Source:http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/news/2073581/eversheds-confirms-75-job-cuts-completes-outsourcing

UCL wants to transfer 94 estates and facilities staff to private firms, with an additional 14 made redundant and 20 new posts created. It is now considering feedback from a consultation on the move.

The plans would outsource the remaining 30 per cent of cleaning and waste services and 50 per cent of security currently provided in-house. The rest is already private.

UCL Unison says in its response that “many of UCL’s lowest-paid staff will effectively have had their pay cut through the loss of their pensions”. It also argues that the university has not conducted a proper equality impact assessment.

Of the 65 cleaning staff who would be transferred to private employ, 93 per cent are from black and minority-ethnic backgrounds.

The Unison response, from branch secretary Bill Lehm, says that outsourcing “in the way that is proposed is potentially illegal”.

A UCL spokesman described the current mix of in-house and outsourced provision as “inefficient”.

“In-house staff terms and conditions will be protected in accordance with Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations,” he said. “UCL is also committed to implementing the London Living Wage for all staff, whether in-house or outsourced, and is working to deliver this.”

Source:http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=416288&c=1