The Official Organ of LaborNET
click here to view the latest edition of Workers Online
The Official Organ of LaborNET
Free home delivery
Issue No. 327 06 October 2006  
E D I T O R I A L

The Road to Bangalore
A funny thing is happening as the major corporations plan their latest heist on the Australian public � the off shoring of an estimated two million white collar jobs to low cost countries like India.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Cowboys and Indians
Finance Sector Union national secretary Paul Schroder is standing between the big banks and a bucket of money.

Industrial: Seven Deadly Sins
Chris Christodoulou gives seven reasons why WorkChoices is bad for business

Unions: The IT Factor
The future of Australian IT looks grim as big companies lead the rush to India and China, writes Jackie Woods.

Politics: Bargain Basement
Simple principles of democracy underpin the ACTU's collective bargaining proposal, insists ACTU Secrteary Greg Combet.

Environment: An Inconvenient Hoax
Al Gore may be warning of climate breakdown, but what hope the truth when he's up against such a well-oiled machine? asks Paul Sheridan

Corporate: Two Sides
Bilateral trade agreements are a good idea � just ask the US multinationals. The rest of us should strongly disagree says Pat Ranald

International: Unfair Dismissals
Nearly 10,000 workers were fired for their trade union activities in 2005, an annual trade union survey shows.

History: A Stitch in Time
Neale Towart takes some lessons from female textile workers while considering the case for recognition ballots.

Review: The Wind that Shakes the Barley
A film charting the turmoil of the Irish war for independence against British occupation during the 1920s might seem an odd choice for top honours at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.

N E W S

 OWS Blesses Tassie Plunder

 Feds Knew About Wage Slashing

 Data Farmers' Bitter Harvest

 Umpire Delivers to Posties

 It's a Goal - Compass Out-Pointed

 Childcare Giant Goes Union

 Meat Head Jumps The Queue

 AWAs � Thanks a Million

 Vets� Fight On

 TB Threat From FoC Ship

 Hamberger in Cancer Blue

 AMWU Challenges Forced Deportation

 Let�s Dance � Andrews Get Hot

 Legal Centres Under Threat

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Ian West takes a walk around the backyard with the Prime Minister�

The Soapbox
Rise Up
Hugo Chavez's explosive address to the United Nations

Culture
The Fear Factor
A new analysis of the history of fear takes us from the war on terror all the way to the modern workplace.

L E T T E R S
WHAT YOU CAN DO
About Workers Online
Latest Issue
Print Latest Issue
Previous Issues
Advanced Search

other LaborNET sites

Labor Council of NSW
Vic Trades Hall Council
IT Workers Alliance
Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation


Labor for Refugees

BossWatch



News

Data Farmers' Bitter Harvest


The personal details of thousands of western bank customers are being farmed and harvested from Indian offshore processing centres.

As the backlash against off-shoring of jobs to India gathers steam, a report by Britain's Channel 4 'Dispatches' program exposes major security breaches in centres Australian banks are targeting as cheap labour bases.

The report, the product of a 12-month investigation, films an Indian middleman offering hundreds and thousands of "hot leads", with full banking and financial profiles of UK customers.

The report backs concerns raised by Australian unions that lax privacy laws will compromise the data of Australia customers if IT processing work is sent to India.

Opposition leader Kim Beazley weighed into the campaign, endorsing the union call for 'right to know' laws that would require businesses sending details overseas to disclose this to their customers.

"When businesses seek savings by off shoring jobs to overseas data processing centres, it's only reasonable that their Australian customers are told," Beazley says.

"That way, consumers can stay in control of their personal data, and make informed choices about which businesses they want to deal with. "

Sharing the Spirit

Meanwhile, shareholders in Australia's major banks are being asked to sponsor resolutions that would force the off-shoring of jobs to India to be abandoned.

The Finance Sector Union has placed in major newspapers around Australia Monday calling on shareholder to back resolutions to be put to upcoming Annual General Meetings of Westpac, ANZ, NAB and St George.

The resolutions call on the boards of these banks, who are all looking to send significant numbers of jobs offshore to India, to reconsider this strategy in the interests of the company share price.

Each resolution required the signatures of 100 shareholders to be placed on the AGM agenda. It was then up to shareholders to vote on the issue.

FSU national secretary Paul Schroder says that investors who care about share value would back the resolution.

"We know that the public is opposed to Australian jobs being sent off-shore and that customers of these banks don't want their personal information sent to countries with inferior privacy protections.

"The concern of staff and shareholders is that in taking short term cost-cutting options these banks may actually undermine confidence in their ability to securely manage their customers accounts."


------

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 327 contents



email workers to a friend printer-friendly version latest breaking news from labornet


Search All Issues | Latest Issue | Previous Issues | Print Latest Issue

© 1999-2002 Workers Online
Workers Online is a resource for the Labour movement
provided by the Labor Council of NSW
URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/327/news3_harvest.html
Last Modified: 06 Oct 2006

Powered by APT Solutions
Labor Council of NSW Workers Online
LaborNET