GSK contractor from axed supplier speaks out

UKTECH interviewed a contractor working through the recruitment agency Certes for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). He provided an account of his time there that includes FTV workers being imported to cut costs and rates cuts for contractors of 15-20 per cent.

UKTECH recently broke the news about the pharmaceutical company's agency auction where 475 other Glaxo suppliers were culled.

UKTECH received an e-mail that detailed the overhaul of suppliers at GSK, but the contractor, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was not sent to every affected person on the site.

He said: "It wasn't something that was sent out to individual contractors and even some of the staff in GSK procurement who deal with contractors had not seen it.

"A Senior Manager I spoke to who had seen the e-mail said rates cuts would only affect new people coming in. I've just been told: 'while you're here, you carry on,' but nobody new will be coming in through the agency.

"I may have to change agencies to one of the remaining suppliers [to stay working for GSK], I don't know whether I'll have to look at different rates. I doubt I would accept them if this were the case as I already took a £50 per day drop to come here in November.

"Some of the rates I've heard quoted from the bidding process are quite alarming - one for a Project Manager, including the agent's cut, was £300 per day. The drop in rates would be approximately 15-20 per cent to me. I think this will go right across the board. [Contractors] who came in earliest were on very high rates, but those who came in later are on lower rates because there was less money in the pot, but they are doing the same work.

"The feeling amongst other contractors here is that it might be a storm in a tea-cup and it won't affect them, but if it does they will leave. Some people here are travelling in and staying overnight, so if they have to take a pay-cut then it wouldn't be worth their while staying.

"Some third party consultants, like Cap Gemini, have started bringing FTV workers into here from India for budgetary reasons and because some parts of the projects weren't going well. It would have had adverse effects if they hadn't done this; they would have had to have used UK contractors at a higher cost or could have lost scope."

Asked to comment on this and whether or not the company was using fast track visa workers for projects at GSK, Ellen Penman, a spokeswoman for Cap Gemini, sent a statement back saying: "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on behalf of our client."

Philip Connolly, Vice President of IT Communications at Glaxo, responded: "Like many other companies, GSK is looking to see whether offshore workers can help us deliver cost-effective IT. At present we have five developers from India working with us. In this way we can get a better experience of how such approaches might be best made to work if we decide to go to a bigger scale. So we are just dipping our toe in the water at present."

Robert Lindsey, Chief Executive of Certes Group, sent the following statement to UKTECH.com:

"At this point in time, Certes can confirm that while we have not been selected as a future preferred supplier to GSK, we are still awaiting clarification of when this decision will take effect. To this end, we have yet to verify our position and therefore are not in a position to comment on our intended course of action on this matter. What we can confirm is that Certes are currently still actively working with GSK, and will continue to do so until we are informed otherwise."