Rewriting history
Clare Curran said yesterday that:
Another 50 Kiwis will join the ever-lengthening dole queue after today’s announcement by state owned enterprise Kordia that it will outsource its Auckland call centre, says Labour’s Communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran.
Orcon’s 50 Auckland call centre positions will be outsourced to Manila, as the company integrates its two New Zealand telecommunications businesses, Kordia Networks and Orcon.
“This is part of a worrying trend for businesses to make cost cutting decisions at the expense of Kiwi jobs,” says Clare Curran.
“The fact that it’s a state owned enterprise making the decision reinforces the lack of commitment by the National Government to investing in Kiwi jobs.
“National has removed the social responsibility clause which ensures SOEs have to take into account community interests and this is the result.
That last line is now missing from the web version – gone as if it never was included.
The reasons is it is factually incorrect. National has done no such thing. In fact Curran scores an own goal by highlighting that the social responsibility clause in no way hinders SOEs acting to become more efficient.
Personally I think the issue with Kordia, is why do we own it? It nationalised Orcon when it purchased it. Do we want government owned ISPs competing with others?
Stuff reports:
The Labour Party has acknowledged Kordia is still bound by the “social responsibility clause” of the State Owned Enterprises Act
Hard not to acknowledge reality. And also worth noting:
Orcon chief executive Scott Bartlett, who will take up an expanded role at Kordia as head of its new merged telecommunication division, said yesterday that many affected call centre staff would probably find jobs at Australia’s second-largest broadband provider, iiNet, which operates a 300-person call centre in Auckland servicing its customers in Australia.
Now you can take a view that no NZ company should outsource its call centre overseas, but this also means that you are arguing against NZ companies picking up business from overseas companies.