Global Media Watch

Call centres ‘bad for India’

The mass transfer of call centre jobs from Europe and North
America to India is bad for the subcontinent, a leading Indian newspaper writer
has warned. The huge growth in India’s call centre industry was highlighted
again last week, as British company Norwich Union announced they would be
cutting 2,350 UK jobs and relocating them.

But author Praful Bidwai said that in effect the centres
reduced the young Indian undergraduates to "cyber-coolies."

"They work extremely long hours badly paid, in extremely
stressful conditions, and most have absolutely no opportunities for any kind of
advancement in their careers," Mr Bidwai told BBC World Service’s One
Planet programme.

"It’s a dead end, it’s a complete cul-de-sac. It’s
a perfect sweatshop scenario, except that you’re working with computers and
electronic equipment rather than looms or whatever."

BBC News, UK

Abbey moves 400 call centre jobs to India

Abbey National, Britain’s second biggest mortgage
lender,said it was moving 400 jobs to India as part of an overhaul that would
also close its Edinburgh life insurance office.

The closure will mean the transfer of 900 jobs at Scottish
Provident to the company’s Glasgow office. Provident's staff, which Abbey
bought in 2001 for £1.8bn, will be offered terms to encourage them to relocate
to Glasgow.

Abbey is also to close its offices in Warrington and Derby,
while changes in Bradford following the opening of a call centre in India, will
mean the loss of around 400 jobs.

"We have taken some tough business decisions today that
are absolutely necessary to the health of Abbey’s future," Luqman Arnold,
the chief executive, said in a statement.

The Guardian, UK

West’s fear of change of globalization

For much of the past 50 years, the democratic nations of the West have worked
to persuade much of the rest of the world to open their economies and join in
the process of globalization. Indeed, that advice has been followed. India,
China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Russia–and even terribly poor
countries in Africa–have followed this advice.

But now, in the West, some are beginning to ask, is this the world we really
want? Increasingly, the rise of once-closed countries to important players in
the world economy is seen as threat, altering the traditional balance of
economic and political power and threatening a major shift in jobs to these
nations.

This shift in balances of power was evident at the Cancun summit of the WTO
last year, when these countries successfully challenged the power of the USA and
Europe, which in the past had dictated the terms of new trade agreements.

Already, the economic advance of giant nations such as China and India, as
well as growing competition from Brazil, Mexico and Eastern Europe, is
generating fears of job losses in the West. Outsourcing to India and China, is
triggering a backlash among middle-class workers in the West who fear for their
own futures.

These feelings themselves are a huge threat to global progress. But until we
have a clearer picture of how change can work for all, insecurity will grow,
which is why defining a future course for the world is the great intellectual
challenge all parts of the planet share.

Toronto Star, Canada

US Could Lose Technology Dominance

An organization of high-technology executives renewed
industry calls for government spending and tax cuts to spur research, improved
mathematics and science education and policies that make building technology
infrastructure a national priority.With India, China, Russia and other countries
rapidly becoming technology centers, the executives warned that without such
measures the US could lose its dominance in the knowledge economy.

"Our competitiveness as a nation is not
inevitable," said Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carleton S. "Carly"
Fiorina. At a press briefing alongside Intel chief executive Craig R. Barrett,
Fiorina cited declining federal government spending on research and development
compared with other countries, as well as a kindergarten through 12th grade
educational system that "remains a source of competitive
disadvantage."

Barrett cautioned against erecting global barriers to
commerce – a response to mounting concerns that technology and other companies
are transferring tens of thousands of support center, data entry and software
engineering jobs overseas to take advantage of lower wages. Such protectionist
responses endanger the ability of US firms to compete, he said.

The Washington Post, USA

We taught them to fish...

While we claim to want developing countries to ‘learn to fish’ on their
own, when it comes to IT outsourcing it would seem we don’t want them to fish
near us, or sell us anything they catch

The IMF consists of 184 member countries. Their goals include the fostering
of economic growth, high levels of employment and the worldwide reduction of
poverty. These goals are achieved primarily through three strategies – Loans
(the giving of fish), Technical Assistance (teaching them to fish) and
Surveillance to ensure adherence to prescribed monetary policies and best
practices.

In other words, we created and support the IMF in order to elevate the global
standard of living. Our good intentions are bearing fruit – here’s one
example. In 2002, Stanley Fischer, once the first deputy managing director of
the IMF, said economic growth averaged 6 per cent a year, led by
strong advances in the services sector. The IT industry has proven particularly
dynamic and is now of global renown – and its success proves that India is
perfectly capable of competing and succeeding on the global stage.

While the IMF is willing to congratulate India for a lesson well learned,
others have a bit of a problem with their new-found ability. It would seem that
while we claim we want them to fish on their own, we don’t want them to fish
near us, or sell us any of the newly caught fish.

To put it plainly, the IT industry in Canada, the USA, and the UK don’t
really want India, or anyone else for that matter, to actually deploy their new
found IT ability. We are happy to support the IMF, but the last thing we want is
for these upstart Third World countries to compete with us. We don’t want our
work going to other countries either.

Work doesn’t care if it is done downtown,or down under.

The Globe and Mail, Canada

Backlash Brews As Jobs Move

Executives from Silicon Valley to Wall Street are adamant
that shifting white-collar jobs from the USA to developing countries is good
business, but a backlash is brewing. Indiana’s state government canceled a $15
million contract with an Indian consulting firm in November. And eight states
voted on bills last year that would ban the use of taxpayer money on contracts
with foreign workers. Though none of those measures passed, the states and
several others are expected to consider similar bills this year.

Outsourcing critics say Americans have been complacent about
the loss of technology jobs to overseas workers since the trend began in the
late 1990s. But with elections in both countries, they believe 2004 could be a
turning point.

"Politicians can’t outsource the vote," said
Scott Kirwin, founder of the Wilmington, Del-based lobbying group ITPAA, which
compiles data from nearly 100 anti-outsourcing Web sites. Kirwin, who launched
ITPAA after a large bank asked him to train the Indian worker who then replaced
him, says said only broad consumer revolt will reverse the trend.

The New York Times, USA