IT suppliers turn down Swansea's 'strikebreaking' plea

IT suppliers have turned down Swansea Council's pleas for help running computer systems while its IT workers are on strike.

A hundred IT staff at the council have gone on "indefinite" strike today over a proposed £100m 10-year outsourcing deal called 'Service@Swansea'.

Staff and union Unison complain that the council will not consider alternatives such as secondment to permanent TUPE transfer to the private sector.

Swansea remained bullish as the strike started, claiming it will be "business as usual", even though striking IT staff will only keep the Child Protection Register up and running. All other systems including finance, payroll and benefits payments are unsupported.

But four companies not involved in the outsourcing bidding - including Computacenter, Fujitsu, and IBM - have so far turned down approaches from Swansea to operate council IT systems during the strike.

Instead the council turned to the two bidders Capgemini and ITNet. Capgemini refused to operate a service but Unison claims ITNet is providing "strikebreaking" staff.

Unison said it is "astounded" that the council could even consider asking the two bidding companies to provide services at such a sensitive stage of the procurement process and warned it may affect future employment relations should ITNet win the final contract.

A spokesman for Swansea council said external IT contractors are maintaining the council's IT systems and that 99 per cent of staff are still able to work normally despite the strike.