BMI ships 154 jobs to Kale Consultants

British Midland Airways (BMI), UK's second largest full service scheduled airline, has nixed 154 jobs at its UK headoffice and have outsourced them to Mumbai-based IT solutions provider, Kale Consultants.

The move is likely to result in a stiff opposition by the worker's union in the UK, as 'exporting of jobs' had resulted in a backlash in the country earlier.

The carrier is axing jobs of accounts department employees at its Castle Donington Hall office in London, who will be rendered jobless by July this year.

Kale had won a contract to outsource BMI's ticketing and accounting services, which would be conducted out of its India facility. The companies are working together to develop and implement a new system for its ticketing and accounting needs.

Officials of both BMI and Kale in India declined to comment on the issue, stating a non-disclosure agreement.

Kale Consultancy is an outsourcing major in airline ticketing and accounting solutions and its flagship product Revera, is hailed as one of the best solutions available in the industry.

However, BMI employee unions are not happy with the move. They feel that the move to outsource their work to low-cost countries will be a gamble on the company's part, especially with the ongoing backlash to offshoring.

Earlier in a statement issued in London, BMI spokesman Phil Shepherd said Kale Consultants would take over the work done by the accounts department workers to improve efficiency and reduce costs. He had also said the work would be carried out in India, and not from Britain.

On a positive note, the outsourcing contact will result in creation of 21 new jobs at Donington Hall, resulting in a net loss of 133 jobs. BMI employs around 800 people at Donington Hall, with 290 of them working in the department affected by the announcement.

The statement also said that BMI informed its employees and GMB union (Britain's general trade union) and has promised a 90-day consultation period, starting two days ago.

It also said that the decision has been taken after a 12-month review of systems and practices.