Protests against UK call centre jobs moving to India

rab · Jul 24th, 2003, 03:38

Interesting news here from the BBC regarding protests by British Telecom staff against call centre jobs being lost to new sites in India.

Shame if you have a job in a remote part of Scotland but what the hell ... bring on the global economy!

Do you agree / disagree?

indiamike · Jul 24th, 2003, 04:46

Also some info about BT staff protest jobs-to-India move in this older thread.

Call centers seem to be a big thing now in India and I have been reading quite a few articles on it. Still seems to be electronic sweatshops though and people working in them will soon tire of them and then it will be on to the next country for them.

It's not just call centers jobs that are going it's lot's of other jobs to and I say this as a business owner. At least in the U.S. the strict rules and regulations make it nearly impossible for anyone to run a business and make a profit. You are either a very small business or a very large business, there is no in-between because you just cannot afford it.

Let's see, if I hire someone, by law I have to pay workman's compensation insurance, oh and I need business insurance also, and they probably want health benefits (that's a couple hundred a month) and maybe a 401k plan. I hire some more people all of a sudden they join a Union and expect Union Pay and want Holiday Pay and Paid Vacation time. Oh and then there is the taxes...and they always go up. Did someone say paid maternity leave?

At that point the employee is a Union man making thirty five dollars an hour and the company has to generate seventy dollars an hour just to pay for them and all the insurance and crap that goes with that.

It reaches a point where the company cannot possibly charge enough to pay for all of the things required by law, and you can only charge as much as the market can bare. So you either close shop or move to another country to do business.

We have seen it with the Auto Plants, the Steel Workers, Computers Jobs, and now call centers.

So that's the problem here, there are so many rules and regulations that companies cannot afford to stay in business anymore and that's the bottom line.

Okay I am ranting a bit but it's only from personal experience.

Mike
(ps...I will probably edit some of this down later, I just get all riled up when I think about it)

MadnoMad · Jul 24th, 2003, 06:34

Hi,
I just thought I hsould add an indian perspective to the whole issue...and having worked in one at the management level for more than a year I guess I do know a lil bout the business...as an indian the whole call center boom is quite good for us because in India you always have a shortage of jobs for people who are not professionally qualified(engineers,doctors,la wyers are called professionally qualified people)...but now with the call center jobs floating around...everybody gets a job all they need is a bachelor's degree and good command over the english language....and the hotspot for call centers is Bangalore city where at last count there were close a 100 call centers each employing a min of 150 ppl and a max of 5000ppl the one I worked for had 3000ppl working round the clock.....for a guy/gal just out of college call centers pay good money you can make anything from 5000Rs up to 10,000Rs a month as a entry level candidate in a call center...also theres lots of other issues that go with this industry....since the crowd is young they expect very fast growth...all of them expect to be managers in less than a year....unrealistic expectations and the industry not being able to recognise talent on the floor is what will lead to the downfall of call centers in india as far as the industrial strength in this area is concerned india is in a very advantegous position...but it will lose in a big way if it doesnt take care of its human resources...if you need more info on this industry in India you can check out

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

and there you can clik on the link "news by industry" -> "infotech" ->"ITES"

cheers

MadnoMad

steven_ber · Jul 24th, 2003, 13:30

This could be a case of the 'third world' getting its revenge.

India produces many vegetables, rice etc. in some of the harshest conditions in the world with tools that western countries give up a long time ago, even after transport charges they are still cheap in Europe or north America.

So we impose tariffs and subsidise our farmers to protect wealthy western farmers, where does that leave Indian farmers?

So the more privileged Indians can now take jobs from Britain and the poorest in India still suffer, but slowly the money will filter down.

Though somehow I think the west will find a way of limiting this.

Jul 24th, 2003, 03:38	#1
rab Honorary Mod Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: McLaren Vale, South Australia Posts: 1,216	Protests against UK call centre jobs moving to India Interesting news here from the BBC regarding protests by British Telecom staff against call centre jobs being lost to new sites in India. Shame if you have a job in a remote part of Scotland but what the hell ... bring on the global economy! Do you agree / disagree?

Jul 24th, 2003, 06:34	#3
MadnoMad Simply SyKaDeLiCk Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Chennai, India Posts: 90	Call Centers in India Hi, I just thought I hsould add an indian perspective to the whole issue...and having worked in one at the management level for more than a year I guess I do know a lil bout the business...as an indian the whole call center boom is quite good for us because in India you always have a shortage of jobs for people who are not professionally qualified(engineers,doctors,la wyers are called professionally qualified people)...but now with the call center jobs floating around...everybody gets a job all they need is a bachelor's degree and good command over the english language....and the hotspot for call centers is Bangalore city where at last count there were close a 100 call centers each employing a min of 150 ppl and a max of 5000ppl the one I worked for had 3000ppl working round the clock.....for a guy/gal just out of college call centers pay good money you can make anything from 5000Rs up to 10,000Rs a month as a entry level candidate in a call center...also theres lots of other issues that go with this industry....since the crowd is young they expect very fast growth...all of them expect to be managers in less than a year....unrealistic expectations and the industry not being able to recognise talent on the floor is what will lead to the downfall of call centers in india as far as the industrial strength in this area is concerned india is in a very advantegous position...but it will lose in a big way if it doesnt take care of its human resources...if you need more info on this industry in India you can check out http://economictimes.indiatimes.com and there you can clik on the link "news by industry" -> "infotech" ->"ITES" cheers MadnoMad __________________ One world, One man, One plan....Travel...unfortunately just one life!

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Jul 24th, 2003, 04:46	#2
indiamike Retired Admin Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: New Joisey for now Posts: 1,759	Also some info about BT staff protest jobs-to-India move in this older thread. Call centers seem to be a big thing now in India and I have been reading quite a few articles on it. Still seems to be electronic sweatshops though and people working in them will soon tire of them and then it will be on to the next country for them. It's not just call centers jobs that are going it's lot's of other jobs to and I say this as a business owner. At least in the U.S. the strict rules and regulations make it nearly impossible for anyone to run a business and make a profit. You are either a very small business or a very large business, there is no in-between because you just cannot afford it. Let's see, if I hire someone, by law I have to pay workman's compensation insurance, oh and I need business insurance also, and they probably want health benefits (that's a couple hundred a month) and maybe a 401k plan. I hire some more people all of a sudden they join a Union and expect Union Pay and want Holiday Pay and Paid Vacation time. Oh and then there is the taxes...and they always go up. Did someone say paid maternity leave? At that point the employee is a Union man making thirty five dollars an hour and the company has to generate seventy dollars an hour just to pay for them and all the insurance and crap that goes with that. It reaches a point where the company cannot possibly charge enough to pay for all of the things required by law, and you can only charge as much as the market can bare. So you either close shop or move to another country to do business. We have seen it with the Auto Plants, the Steel Workers, Computers Jobs, and now call centers. So that's the problem here, there are so many rules and regulations that companies cannot afford to stay in business anymore and that's the bottom line. Okay I am ranting a bit but it's only from personal experience. Mike (ps...I will probably edit some of this down later, I just get all riled up when I think about it)

Jul 24th, 2003, 13:30	#4
steven_ber Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: London, England. Posts: 9,180	This could be a case of the 'third world' getting its revenge. India produces many vegetables, rice etc. in some of the harshest conditions in the world with tools that western countries give up a long time ago, even after transport charges they are still cheap in Europe or north America. So we impose tariffs and subsidise our farmers to protect wealthy western farmers, where does that leave Indian farmers? So the more privileged Indians can now take jobs from Britain and the poorest in India still suffer, but slowly the money will filter down. Though somehow I think the west will find a way of limiting this.

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