Staff at Capita's licence fee collection centre in Bristol have gone on strike today over plans to outsource their jobs to India.
Around 100 workers at the TV licensing operation's headquarters have begun a 48-hour stoppage organised by the Communication Workers Union, over fears that the move to India could lead to hundreds of job losses in the UK.
Capita - the firm which administrates TV licence collection for the BBC - made the decision to outsource work from Bristol to Mumbai in a bid to save money.
But the union claims the move could lead to large-scale job cuts after the company refused to give guarantees over the long-term future of dozens of posts at the Bristol centre in Temple Street.
David Wilshire, a union official at the strike, said further action could not be ruled out unless Capita returned to the negotiating table.
Members of the CWU voted by 95% in favour of industrial action following a ballot in December.
The CWU has also launched a public campaign to raise awareness over what they claim are security lapses and fraud in Indian call centres, which take bank account details from UK customers.
A spokeswoman for Capita confirmed the equivalent of 35 full-time posts were being created at their Mumbai operations centre over the next six months - but denied any UK jobs would be lost as a result.
A Capita spokesman added: "It is wrong to question the security or accuracy of work undertaken in Capita's offshore administration centres. These centres consistently meet very exacting accuracy targets set by our clients and are accredited to the highest level of security. All TV licensing customer details are and will continue to be held in secure IT systems in the UK."
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