The University of California, San Francisco laid off forty nine information technology employees on Tuesday in a bid to save an estimated amount of $30 million over a period of five years which the university had been planning since last July. The University of California system, which includes health care and research-focused UCSF, has been struggling to raise revenue and cut expenses. The IT work has been outsourced to HCL technologies Ltd in India. UCSF entered into a $50 million contract with HCL last year.
This was the University of California’s first outsourcing, said a spokeswoman who added that the layoffs were necessary due to rising costs of technology. In addition to the 49 staff layoffs, another 48 positions that were vacant or filled by contractors were eliminated.
Although the practice of outsourcing jobs is common in the private sector, this is believed to be the first instance of a public university doing so. Job availability for Americans has been a hot topic since the election of President Trump and it is yet to be seen how the president reacts to such incidents.
Scenes of peaceful protests were witnessed on the last day of work for the employees who had been laid off accompanied by lawyers and union supporters at the UCSF offices on Folsom Street.
“There are many, many ways to save money,” said Bob Zhang, who spent 20 years as a programmer analyst at the university. “This is not the way.”
Kurt Ho, 58, a laid off systems administrator, carried a box of his personal items with an American flag draped over it, and said the university’s decision will hurt service for a medical staff that relies on a smoothly running and secure computer network.
“It’s a downgrading of services and a slap in the face for the customers,” said Ho, who has worked in IT in the Bay Area for 25 years. He said he plans to look for a job but worries that outsourcing of IT services is a growing trend.
