AOL To Offshore 22 Of 39 Editorial Jobs To India, Union Fears - Report
By Ingrid Lunden - Fri 05 Oct 2007 07:49 AM PST
Some more details on the proposed AOL (NYSE: TWX) editorial layoffs in the UK. Apparently, they may be higher than 13 people reported last week, and a number of those jobs might get offshored to India rather than eliminated altogether. A report in the Guardian says the 13 figure was a “best-case scenario” and that the UK’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) now believes it might be closer to 22 (cutting the 39 editorial jobs to 17).
Among the jobs that may move off-shore are those in the seven-strong design team. AOL is still declining to comment on the subject, except to say that “right-sizing” the business to its new ad-supported portal model is still the focus. All NUJ members at AOL have voted in favor of holding a ballot for industrial action, and have requested voluntary redundancies. Press Gazette: “The seven-strong picture and design team could be particularly hard hit. The roles likely to be relocated to Bangalore are understood to include picture desk and online editorial support roles such as basic HTML mark-up.”
