Saturday, January 16, 2010

Where are all the new jobs going to be found?

I was saddened by the news that another UK company is moving a good
part of its work abroad. It’s the famous Twinings Tea Company, which
according to its website is 300 years old. The work is going to
factories in Poland and to China … to be nearer its international
markets according to Twinings. Looking at the map of its overseas
company websites, this does seem to be the case.

The company plans to axe its workforce in South Shields (up North),
and to slim down its workforce in Andover … plans which will be
opposed by its workers and local MPs also.

About 400 jobs will disappear if these plans go ahead, but this is
small when you think of all the job losses in the big industries
across the UK … mining, steel and car manufacturing, ship building, etc..

Spare a thought for our tax officers. The Inland Revenue workforce
is shrinking with the introduction of computerisation, and with more
and more people completing tax returns online.

White collar workers in other areas will be similarly affected … banking
and insurance, and journalists too.

If you can read the headlines and main news stories on the internet,
who will wish to buy a newspaper, except those who like doing the
crossword, reading a few middle articles and finding out if any of
their old school chums have died?

So, where are all the new jobs going to be found?

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Our local library have laid off two thirds of the staff because it is self service now.

When you take books back you put them into a hole, the computer reads the tag inside each book and books (?) them in. If they are overdue you have to put the correct money into the slot otherwise when you try to take out a book by putting it into the hole it will not let you until you have paid your arrears.

The bit I find amusing is that if you try to walk out with a book without "booking" it out on the cumpter the door locks and the Red Alert siren starts screaming at 120db until the only assistant on duty comes to see whats going on.

Even if you make a mistake trying to use the stupid machine the red light on the top flashes and the assistant has to try and sort things out.

Guess who doesn't use the libray now?

11:26 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Part 2 ~ I've noticed that our supermarket now has several self checkouts manned by one checkout girl who keeps an eye on things.

Eventually it will be ALL self-checkout (23 checkout tills) and they will only need about 3 school-leavers to keep an eye on things, so all the other 46 checkout girls (2 per shift) will lose their jobs.

11:31 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Part 3 ~ When HP sauces moved to Holland to use cheaper labour and laid off 200+ workers at their Aston plant but had the nerve to say that their products would be shipped back to this country (we eat more brown sauce than any other country) I boycotted their products. Now it looks like I won't be buying Twinnings products now.

I think if everybody followed my example it would hit them where it hurts; in their pocket!

11:38 am  
Blogger Kevin 'In Salford' said...

Hey, and Keith's examples there are only just the beginning!

Also, I think it's also probable that Twinnings are actually currently gaining sales due to the fact that most other teas are now artificially flavoured dust!

And that's without even mentioning the declining standard of the good old British portion of chips! Regardless of chippy takeaway or supermarket brand, they're now so full of rotten black bits and coated with rotten skin that 75% now have to be thrown away. Or am I the only one to complain about this?

10:08 pm  
Blogger Kevin 'In Salford' said...

Personally, I think the time is now right for the UK to unlock itself from the USA. They are now dragging us down, mainly due to the fact that China is now a far superior manufacturing and exporting state than the USA have been for many years. And China is now becoming far more self-sufficient, whereas the USA is increasingly dependant on imports.

My biggest gripe is that the UK joined the EU relatively late, we should have been up there dictating the odds alongside Germany - and it now dismays me to see the ever increasing number of poorer nations now joining. But that's Socialism - the evening down of the affluent to meet an only very slightly improved poor majority.

10:37 pm  
Blogger justin said...

Keith & Kevin: OMG, what a huge postbag full of comments. I think computerisation is a mixed blessing ... brilliant at doing some things, crap doing others. Or perhaps if it's not working properly, it's been set up by some rubbish IT staff / equipment ... cos, how can a computer be to blame for any cock-ups?
Co-op's own brand crinkle-cut chips are not bad, though we prefer our own home-made chips, which we cook like roast potatoes in a minimal amount of oil in our Remoska cooker.
I think I would start to get separation anxiety if we were to sever our links with the US. So much of our high quality cinema and TV drama is made in the US nowadays, except for the brilliant home-grown stuff such as Cranford and Wallender.

11:27 pm  

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