Irish ferries dispute/flags of convenince/low wages/ and the Nice treaty etc

billy the squid

ronbyrne2005 wrote:

lifes tough ,dog eat dog,get over it and look after yourself,invest in irish ferries and you wont have to work in your 70's

maybe you can put that to music intime for when you put in a claim for your prsi stamps.

Anyway, one thing that needs to be added to the debate. Lack of job security creates, poor consumer spending, which inturn leads to ressession.

ronbyrne2005

billy the squid wrote:

maybe you can put that to music intime for when you put in a claim for your prsi stamps.

Anyway, one thing that needs to be added to the debate. Lack of job security creates, poor consumer spending, which inturn leads to ressession.

lack of job security doesnt seem to affect consumer spending in usa and uk the two most consumer driven economies in the world growing at high rates for last 2 decades since the unions were taken care of by maggie and ronnie

ronbyrne2005

it seems dell will in the next few years move its operations for serving the european market to morroco or poland where costs are so much lower,its inevitable,once the irish plants arent as efficent as the new ones in eastern europe/morroco they will be off! as will all the other multinational manufacturers here. the only things keeping them here is the low low tax rates that this tax haven offers

sunday business post june2005
"Last week, it was announced that AIB was considering moving some of its back-office activities to Poland in a bid to cut costs and improve efficiency within the group. It was also reported that Dell was considering setting up a second manufacturing facility in Poland.

Ireland has been no stranger to the concept of offshoring over recent decades, having received record levels of offshore activity, primarily from the US.

This occurred for a variety of reasons, including our population's proficiency in English, the availability of a highly skilled and highly educated workforce, and our favourable corporate tax structure. This undoubtedly boosted demand for property over the last 20 years, in particular.

However, although offshoring was once practised only by a small group of primarily US-based global corporates, offshoring is now increasingly becoming attractive to a wide range of companies all over the world as they increasingly face global competitive pressures.

It is expected that an increasing number of companies will seek to minimise costs through outsourcing and offshoring over the coming years.

Similarly to AIB, many financial institutions are coming under pressure to offshore their back office functions to reduce costs.

While this has been opposed at a local level, the fact that by replacing 1,000 officials with the same number in a country such as India, a typical bank can save as much as €12 million per annum, is leading many to make offshoring decisions.

India has traditionally been the most attractive destination for offshore operations. Names such as Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore have become synonymous with offshoring, and conjure up images of a labour force that is not only low-cost, but also highly skilled, extremely motivated and fluent in English.

In fact, a large majority of most of the world's offshoring to date has been directed to India or Asian locations such as Manila, Shanghai and Bangkok.

Latin America has also been popular, primarily with US companies. However, in recent years there has been growing interest, largely from western European countries, to offshore, or - perhaps more precisely - offshore business processes to their central and eastern European (CEE) neighbours. Central and eastern European markets are currently among the world's most attractive locations for offshoring.

In Kearney's recent study of the world's top locations for offshoring operations, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary rated in the top 15 global destinations for offshoring.

The three primary factors that most companies consider when deciding where to offshore are the financial structure (including costs of compensation, infrastructure and taxes), the business environment, and the availability of skilled labour.

Obviously, other factors such as the availability and cost of real estate, and the availability and cost of labour are also important.

India, Asia and Latin America will most likely remain the preferred destinations for companies simply looking for a low-cost work force. At approximately €110 per month, the cost of labour in India, for example, is still a lot lower than in CEE markets, where the average monthly wage is €400.

In addition, most Indian and Asian labour markets are simply larger than those in the major cities of CEE.

However, CEE markets are very attractive in terms of providing high-quality business process offshoring for Europe's companies and operations.

Although western European companies have been offshoring certain operations to CEE for the last decade, the issue has recently become a hot topic on the political scene, largely in Germany, France and Britain.

In some quarters in western Europe, the new EU members are viewed as a threat, due to their lower relative wage levels, the low tax rates and the high level of incentives that are being offered to entice investment.

Nevertheless, an increasing number of companies are finding that offshoring to central and eastern Europe is helping them to stay competitive in today's global market.

Offshoring or outsourcing some business operations will help western European companies to remain competitive with global players from the US, Asia and elsewhere. For the savvy director, who is responsible for the bottom line, the attraction of offshoring can be very strong indeed.

Although the offshoring trend cannot be described as a sudden boom, it can certainly be termed a steady increase.

On the real estate side, property markets in CEE are quickly maturing and expanding. Currently, the CEE markets are among the fastest growing in Europe. With just over 6 million square metres of modern office space in the four main central European markets - Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw - the markets are indeed much smaller than those found in capital cities in western Europe.

However, the markets have evolved almost overnight, from having virtually no modern office stock 12 years ago, to their present state.

Although office development has now slowed there, it is just picking up further east in markets such as Bucharest, Sofia and the Baltic states.

The office market is booming in Moscow, which currently has more than 4 million square metres of modern office space.

With the exception of some of the markets further east, there is currently no shortage of good quality space in the major CEE markets. In fact, the situation in most markets can currently be described as a tenant's market.

The state of the property market in CEE has been positive for companies that are now locating to the region, especially for the larger offshoring requirements. In addition to lower occupancy costs relative to western Europe, most tenants who are properly represented can achieve very attractive incentives from the landlords, such as fit-out contributions and a certain period rent-free.

Also, offshoring operations are usually not looking for prime space in each market, and therefore pay lower rents in more periphery locations.

In summary, in order to remain competitive in today's global market, an increasing number of firms are considering offshoring or outsourcing some of their business processes, thus cutting costs and increasing effectiveness and revenues. Therefore, it is no surprise that AIB is now considering offshoring.

Although India and Asia have been important destinations for US and British companies, CEE offers western European firms many advantages that competitors in India, Asia or Latin America cannot.

Examples of these advantages are the knowledge of European languages, cultural traits, and the locational advantage of being in the same time zone and only a short trip away from western Europe.

We anticipate a marked increase in the amount of offshoring interest from western Europe to CEE, as companies take advantage of lower costs, the highly skilled and low-cost labour market, the cultural and language skills, favorable business environments and lower relative real estate costs.

The companies that have already taken advantage of these factors in the CEE markets have noted significant success. Their success will continue to drive other western European competitors to pursue offshore opportunities in CEE.

However, despite the emerging trends, it is anticipated that Ireland will continue to attract foreign direct investment, on the basis that its pool of educated workforce and favourable tax structures continue to offer significant competitive advantage.

The fact that Ireland is still the only eurozone country that is primarily English-speaking also helps.

However, there is a general acceptance that, at current wage levels and real estate values, this investment is likely to be largely service-based, and that the manufacturing sector in Ireland will continue to decline significantly in the short"

billy the squid

ronbyrne2005 wrote:

lack of job security doesnt seem to affect consumer spending in usa and uk the two most consumer driven economies in the world growing at high rates for last 2 decades since the unions were taken care of by maggie and ronnie

First come the job security issues
http://www.employersjobs.com/news.asp?id=15093896
Then come the consumer confidence issues
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/11/30/afx2359948.html
and resession
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1559154.stm

you still havent stated whether or not you will be singing the same tune when you find your own position "outsourced"

AARRRGH

This topic is full of incredible misinformation... It's embarrassing TBH

billy the squid

dublindude wrote:

This topic is full of incredible misinformation... It's embarrassing TBH

enlighten us, o knowledgeable one!

rossious

Just my point of view but…….

If a SIPTU worker was going to the UK would they book with Stenaline or for £15 cheaper, Irish Ferries?

Would SIPTU workers like to pay more for their goods dues to haulage costs??

Trade Unions and people in general have to realise that you cannot get cheap goods without the business providing those goods being able to having cheap labour.

“Oh isn’t Ireland terrible now” is all I hear when I come home. “Oh isn’t everything so expensive”. Yea it is, and I blame Trade Unions for forcing up wages in the country which drives up the cost of everything. Let markets work them selves out.