The trade union said yesterday that National Grid intends to close its Tyneside office - incorporating purchasing, invoicing and payroll departments - to India, but this morning a company spokesman told HR magazine that a final decision had not been made.
Gary Smith, the GMB's secretary for energy, said: "National Grid is currently restructuring part of its business which is a shared services function. Shared services deal with things such as invoicing, payment and HR. Working together, the unions have managed to save millions of pounds in shared services, but the company wants more."
The National Grid spokesman said: "We must emphasise that absolutely no decisions have yet been made about the way forward and we have not taken any decision to outsource or close any location."
But he added: "We have to make sure we are delivering our services to customers as efficiently and effectively as possible, as well as well as ensuring we continue to perform well financially. Therefore we are reviewing our support services right across the company - including those carried out at our Newcastle office - and our employees and the trade unions are being kept updated on the progress of the review.
"We don't expect to make any decisions until the summer and will consult with trade unions and employees on any proposals."
Smith said: "The company has refused to rule out the possibility of offshoring work. They have invited a number of companies to put in proposals about how they could do the business through outsourcing. National Grid has consistently refused to rule out the possibility of offshoring work to India.
"This is not so much National Grid as national greed."
National Grid "plans to offshore some HR jobs to India"
National Grid is considering offshoring 182 jobs to India, including HR roles at its Newcastle based payroll department, the GMB has claimed.
