It not just the UK’s Ministry of Justice that’s having trouble with outsourcing (posts passim). Over in Finland Broadcast Text International may now find it hard to fulfil its contracts following the mass resignation of 98 subtitlers.
Finnish blog Av-kääntäjät reports that the 98 subtitlers resigned after being outsourced to Broadcast Text International by major commercial broadcasting company, MTV Media.
All told, a total of 110 subtitlers working under freelance contracts for MTV Media were outsourced on 1st October to BTI International, a subsidiary of Broadcast Text International. Under Finnish law, outsourced employees have a right to resign without notice during the first month after the deal and 98 subtitlers have consequently jumped ship, voicing concerns about their being outsourced to a company that pays its current subtitlers minimal wages, forces them to become entrepreneurs instead of employees, claims copyright to all subtitles produced and refuses to engage in collective bargaining.
Broadcast Text International has not commented so far and has also not responded to the concerns voiced by the subtitlers or responded to invitations from trade unions to open negotiations.
Hat tip: Richard McCarthy