XEROX TURNS DOWN OUTSOURCED WORKERS BUYOUT APPLICATIONS

[Anonymous]

XEROX TURNS DOWN OUTSOURCED WORKERS BUYOUT APPLICATIONS

Some Xerox employees in Wilsonville who sought a company buyout last month were apparently turned down and forced to choose between leaving their jobs without severance or going to work for an Indian contractor.

In June, Xerox outsourced 600 jobs companywide — including 120 in Wilsonville — to HCL Technologies. Some workers didn’t want to go, and Xerox said it had offered employees a buyout as an alternative to a transfer to HCL.

Wilsonville employees subject to the transfer say that at least a half-dozen workers applied for the buyout, but were turned down. Xerox confirms that the buyout was not available to everyone, but declined to discuss numbers."Consistent with company policy, whenever we offer a voluntary leave program, Xerox reserves the right to decline participation, based on critical skills and level of participation," spokesman Bill McKee wrote in an e-mail.

The Connecticut-based company still has about 1,400 employees in Wilsonville, in addition to former employees now working at the site through HCL.Xerox says its relationship with HCL will bring new capabilities into the business. Academics say such arrangements aren’t uncommon, but don’t always protect transferred workers from future layoffs.In this case, Xerox said, employees who went to HCL transferred "with comparable pay and benefits."

[Author]

August 1, 2011 at 8:46 AM