"People said they wanted more openness and this is a case in point," the spokesperson said.

However the company is having a harder time justifying the retrenchments in light of a widely acknowledged labor shortage in Canberra where EDS holds infrastructure deals with both the Australian Tax Office and Customs.

Asked why retrenched staff could not be relocated, if willing, to Canberra to save their jobs EDS said only that it is "examining all options," but denied that relocated staff will be forced to resign and then reapply for new jobs.

EDS boss pitches offshore savings to bankers

It will be less than comforting for EDS employees to learn that 106 of their number were being given notice, at a time when the company's Australian managing director Chris Mitchell is hard-selling the cost cutting virtues of offshore development to the banking community.