Lower paid, better-educated workers are luring companies to India

Amicus union will stage its carol service outside the London office of Aviva, which is outsourcing 2,350 Norwich Union posts from the UK.

Amicus said research showed most people considered whether a firm had switched jobs to countries such as India before they bought insurance or products.

Amended versions of carols will be sung to highlight the loss of jobs.

Good King Wenceslas Norwich Union staff looked out, On their Christmas vacation, What did the New Year hold for them? Office relocation, Brightly shone the Far East star, And the UK looked cruel, What for dinner this Noel? Bowls of Christmas gruel Amicus protest version of traditional carol

By moving call centres and customer service operations abroad, many companies say they benefit from lower wages and a better-educated workforce.

But some observers have questioned the benefits of moving telephone jobs overseas, and there has been an angry backlash from unions whose workers are affected.

Amicus national officer David Fleming said: "People choose their Christmas presents very carefully, and our research has shown they also put as much thought into choosing insurance policies and that companies without thought to the future will be penalised by UK shoppers.

"We want companies to be open and transparent about their business decisions."

Amicus said its research had shown 200,000 UK jobs will be lost by 2008 as part of an "exodus" of two million jobs from Western economies to India.

Lower costs

Despite the signs that some companies are not happy with offshoring, the general trend is still very much to move jobs to India.

In November, Norwich Union told staff it would cut 2,350 jobs in the UK and export the work to India.

Parent firm Aviva said operating costs in India were typically 30-40% lower than in the UK and that the move would also help it provide 24-hour services.

Other firms looking at moving customer service jobs abroad include Lloyds TSB, which has a call centre in Newcastle, and National Rail Enquiries.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) recently commissioned a study into call centres, after concerns about a number of companies moving operations abroad, with resulting job losses.