Union bosses have hit out at Swansea Council chiefs after they ditched an IT firm from delivering an all-singing, all-dancing customer service call centre.
Jeff Baker, Unison branch secretary for Swansea, said the decision to pull the plug on Capgemini vindicated council IT staff who walked out in one of Wales's longest public-sector strikes.
Staff were unhappy at proposals to transfer their jobs from Swansea Council to the private IT firm.However, the news that Capgemini will not be involved with the second phase of the scheme to supply a customer call centre could mean jobs are at risk.
Mr Baker said: "Our opposition to this project has been completely vindicated by this decision. What we have been saying since 2004 is that such a large and complicated scheme would not work.
"We are concerned that there must have been millions of pounds spent on consultations with Capgemini.
"The project was designed to replace outdated IT systems and to give people in Swansea a state-of-the-art call centre and a one-stop contact shop in County Hall.
Council leaders have confirmed the call centre work has been put on hold.
Council leader Chris Holley said: "There are significant budget pressures this year and we must cut our cloth according to what we can afford.
"That applies to eGovernment as much as it applies to all the other services we provide."
The deal was pushed through by former chief executive Tim Thorogood and signed off by Bob Carter, another senior manager who has since left the council.
Labour group leader David Phillips says he wants answers.
He said: "I will be asking for both Bob Carter and Tim Thorogood to come back to the council to explain why this has gone wrong so quickly.
"Phase one was supposed to generate £18 million of savings to pay for phase two but they can't even make it break even.
"It was obvious 12 months ago this over-ambitious programme was in trouble. Why has it taken so long to act?
"Just two weeks ago the council was briefing the press claiming everything was on target.
"If that was so, why has it now been cancelled? It's the council taxpayers who are having to fund this incompetence."
