Welsh job loss? | Cardiff - Capital of Wales Articles

By: Alan Belth

Although job outsourcing is a sensitive issue, social and political; it is unavoidable. It’s been said that it is the effect of globalisation. Companies are in the business of making money and will move to places where production costs are cheaper.

Britain are now selling its companies as its difficult to maintain as production costs rise at home while it lowers elsewhere. Britain will now be a place for services where British expertise and experience counts, such as specialised management consultancies and advisory services oil exploration, training and engineering services, design and technology, and development services. Another industry will be the “education sector” such as hundreds of international students comes here for studies. Take Cardiff University’s “Business School” of instance, hundreds of students comes here every year for a degree in Business Management (MBA) bringing in millions of hard currency to the country. The business school in Cardiff is considered the cream of all Cardiff university departments as it fetched millions every year.

Only the British arms industry will survive, thanks to the constant hostility among neighbouring countries. Sometimes one wonders if this hostility and arms race is artificially created to encourage and maintain the arms export. Take Saudi Arabia, for instance, why would it require billions of pounds worth of fighter jets while it has the USA as its God father. This is because the British government and the USA constantly fed its Saudi counterpart that it is in danger from rouge countries like Iraq. Now that Iraq is nearly “Democratised”, ideally there should be no danger.

Well coming back to jobs loses. These call centre job losses are bound to happen as companies’ identity cheaper sources of production. Now look at this scenario, India invests 30% of all of foreign investment in London’s second after the USA at 50%. Who would have thought that India would be able to achieve such a status? Hence can we really blame India, China or other country for the failures of our government for job losses? It’s the failure of our government to provide enough legislatures to prevent further losses. But governments do not want to hamper companies to thrive and prevent budding enterprises from achieving sky high success. A company’s success is a country’s success. Wal-Mart, MacDonald’s and Microsoft will always be associated with the USA while even though “every little hurts” Tesco with Britain.

The above article is in response to this article below taken from Nates Blog.

So it seems that to wear Burberry in Wales now is as to sport the Swastika in Germany.

Of course, not that I am complaining. I’m proud not to own a single checked baseball cap or polo-shirt, but the principle is what is important.

For the wife of an American diplomat to wear a coat by Burberry on Friday when visiting the National Assembly for Wales was headlined in the local rag as a ‘gaffe’ or a ‘clanger’.

I have every sympathy for those who have lost their jobs due to Burberry moving work usually done by the factory in Treorchy to China, but does this mean that for every company that moves out of Wales we need to boycott their products and services?

Lloyds TSB moved a substantial number of jobs from their Newport call centre to Mumbai, India with a loss of 107 jobs and Norwich Union transferred 2,350 jobs to the Indian sub-continent in 2003. Yet, Aviva (parent company of Norwich Union) continue to thrive and are one of the leaders in the UK insurance market.

Fighting for your job, or the jobs of your constituents is an honourable cause, but there comes a time when you must admit defeat, in respect of the greater good.
The campaign, headed at political level by Assembly Member Leighton Andrews has undeniably tarnished the reputation of Wales as a place to set-up business.

In the current climate, it is a given fact that companies require greater flexibility than ever, in a global market which one day would be fine, the next, as we saw last week with the market plunges across the globe, we could be in a totally different situation where jobs need to be moved in order to ensure the survival of the business.

Unfortunately, what Mr Andrews and his colleagues are doing in continuing this campaign against Burberry is portraying Wales as a country which will fight to the bitter end and do everything that can be done to discredit organisations who try to remove jobs from the country.

How would this look to a prospective factory owner or big business who want to find somewhere to put their new call-centre? Surely this would make us look hostile and most certainly not a great country with which to do business. This crusade to save 300 jobs may halt the creation of thousands in the future, and it has been said the at least 1/3 of the employees of the Treorchy factory have already found new jobs, so who knows any many more will find alternative employment once the gates are shut for the last time, the placards are put away and attention is on future livelihoods.
The politicians may make out like it is, and the people believe them, but I’m sure that the closure of this factory will not spell the end of Treorchy, just as, though again it was promised by MP’s and union heads, the closure of the coal mines did not wipe out the Valleys as a whole in the 1980’s.