Catalpa, you can't have it both ways - either we develop such a low-wage economy that we're actually an attractive destination for unskilled manufacturing jobs to be located here, or we accept that most manufacturing jobs will go to developing economies in order to capitalise on lower labour costs there.
"Elite - a small superior group; esp one that has a power out of proportion to its size." (Oxford English Dictionary)
The majority cannot therefore be the elite.
Personally it's all the one to me mate I don't work in manufacturing!Originally Posted by hiding behind a poster
It's what the political effects of rising umemployment will have on Government policy and indeed the Election Programmes of the various Parties contending for seats at the next GE that I am trying to raise.
If you have another think rising unemployment won't have knock on effects on political opinions then so be it but I believe they will.
People have got used to the good times and most people under 30 is probably not going to remember what it was like to struggle to find a job.
They could be in for a rude awakening in 2006!
Europa Conventus Delenda Est
Personally it's all the one to me mate I don't work in manufacturing!
It's what the political effects of rising umemployment will have on Government policy and indeed the Election Programmes of the various Parties contending for seats at the next GE that I am trying to raise.
If you have another think rising unemployment won't have knock on effects on political opinions then so be it but I believe they will.
People have got used to the good times and most people under 30 is probably not going to remember what it was like to struggle to find a job.
They could be in for a rude awakening in 2006!
But unemployment isn't rising. Obviously every so often we'll hear of job losses, particularly in manufacturing - and there's really nothing we can do to keep those jobs here. But despite the steady trickle of manufacturing job losses in the last few years, there's been no corresponding rise in unemployment - which means people are finding other employment - whether by upskilling or not, it doesn't really matter.
"Elite - a small superior group; esp one that has a power out of proportion to its size." (Oxford English Dictionary)
The majority cannot therefore be the elite.
Hmmm, there's actually another way. Western Trade Union Centres, particularly America's AFL-CIO insist upon improved labour standards, pay & conditions, together with America's usual unfair demands when the US negotiates with third world countries at the WTO.
For example, the USWA (Steelworkers) are at the forefront of monitoring Latin American governments' labour practices especiallt Colombia.
The logic being, the better their standards and pay, the less attractice they are for America's big firms to re-locate and outshource.
America's Unions are regularly complaining that NAFTA, CAFTA don't take into account Latin American labour law and as such the US is at "an unfair disadvantage".
So, there's a strategy for you Catalpa!
The closure of top employers like Dell, Intel and HP would have a catastrophic impact on economic confidence.
Some 17% of the private workforce are in construction. Most are computer illiterate. The sector will contract as the agricultural and manufacturing sectors will be shrinking in the next decade.
Anodyne terms such as "upskilling" are easy to use but most workers in construction are computer illiterate. The present situation can easily lull people into complacency but we simply have no fallback if there will be a significant exodus in foreign-owned firms.
The IFSC is also not immune from the attractions of low-cost locations.
Believe those who search for truth. Doubt those who claim to have found it -André Gide (1869-1951) Nobel Laureate 1947
I agree with that. However I think that when our construction industry inevitably contracts, it'll happily fall around the same time as EU structural funds start to feed through to Eastern Europe - leading to a huge rise in construction jobs there, and a fall in the amount of migrant workers in our construction sector. Thus there won't be much unemployment in that sector.
"Elite - a small superior group; esp one that has a power out of proportion to its size." (Oxford English Dictionary)
The majority cannot therefore be the elite.
Two days into the working week and already I'm adding to this!
350 jobs to be lost as Meath company closes
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0221/jobs.html
Can't really see many of these folks getting jobs with the same pay and conditions they have just lost in the Ireland of 2006.
Europa Conventus Delenda Est
More bad news folks....
http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0303/jobs.html
Manufacturing jobs go in Dublin and Mayo
March 03, 2006 14:07
The PCDEL plant in Finglas, north Dublin, which manufactures communications systems, is to close with the loss of 81 jobs. The parent company, based in Chicago, said the company's financial losses are now at an unacceptable level. Plans are now underway to transfer the technology operation to Eastern Europe.
In Mayo, 40 jobs are to be lost at the Oasis Watercoolers manufacturing plant in Ballina. Workers were told of the decision by the company to transfer its manufacturing operation to a lower cost economy.
It said the decision had been forced on it by increased operating costs. The company is to retain 15 jobs in Ballina.
The town's chamber of commerce has said the decision is a further blow to the town which has lost 1,300 jobs in the past nine years.
Meanwhile, 14 jobs are also going at the meat and sausage processors Feldhues in Clones, Co Monaghan. The company has a workforce of 100. The company said the people were being laid off after a deal for sliced meat fell through.
Europa Conventus Delenda Est
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