COMPANIES moving work offshore to cut-rate coding centres such as Bangalore have angered local technology workers, pleased bean-counters and fired up one of the hottest IT debates in years.

Hi-tech workers in danger of losing their jobs have hit the streets to raise awareness of their plight, as witnessed at a recent rally in Melbourne.
The protesters may have numbered only a couple of hundred - not enough to spill onto the street and stop traffic outside Telstra’s Melbourne headquarters, yet even that number was considered a good sign.

“It’s a good turnout for a white-collar industry,” one unionist said at the rally organised by the Community and Public Sector Union to protest against Telstra’s decision to award Indian firm Infosys a five-year $75 million deal to run part of its IT operation.

Traditionally, unionism has not been strong in the IT industry, but with the downturn and outsourcing offshore perceived as a threat to jobs, times may be changing.

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