Ictu warns outsourcing threatens 38,000 jobs

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) estimates that around 38,000 workers could lose their jobs each year as a result of outsourcing and offshoring.

Sixty-seven per cent of the workforce, or 1,294,000 people, currently work in the services industry in Ireland. Another 537,000 people work in industry, of which some 220,000 are in manufacturing.

Between one and five per cent of service jobs are regarded as "contestable" by low wage countries, meaning they are seriously threatened by outsourcing.

Outsourcing is where jobs are contracted out to another firm, usually in the same country. Offshoring is where jobs are moved to different countries, usually those with lower labour costs.

In a paper entitled Offshore Outsourcing: the Implications for Ireland published today, Ictu cites the Irish Ferries case as a "particularly bad case of offshoring and outsourcing". The displacement of Irish workers is also happening in many other sectors, most notably construction and catering.

Ictu estimates some three per cent - or 38,000 - of service industry jobs are likely to be outsourced from Ireland.

Congress calls for new training for workers to offset the threat from the relocation of their jobs.

"[Outsourcing] should not be a tool used by firms to lead to the downgrading of pay and working conditions in base countries nor to the systemic exploitation of workers in poorer countries," the paper says.

"The best way to manage the jobs which are offshored is to ensure that there are alternative jobs for those who lose out, preferably within the same employment with re-training provided in advance of the expected job losses."

Companies must invest in a continuous improvement in productivity and in the skills of employees, while union officials and shop stewards have to be more adaptable and to seek re-training of workers, it says.

"We must try to persuade management to invest in the firm and not to take profit at the expense of the firm, as some do," the paper argues.

It also calls for the upcoming partnership talks to focus in improving financial support and retraining for those who lose their jobs, for a reform of the tax and social welfare system and for Irish labour law and its enforcement to be strengthened.

Ictu warns women are more vulnerable than men to the threat of outsourcing, largely because women tend to have more atypical and often lower paid or part time jobs which are more readily moved elsewhere.