UK union for probe into offshoring

As British banks and insurance companies locate call centres in India, Amicus, the largest UK union, today warned it would have a 8216;14...

As British banks and insurance companies locate call centres in India, Amicus, the largest UK union, today warned it would have a 8216;8216;devastating impact8217;8217;, hurting mostly the same communities that suffered worst from the collapse of manufacturing and asked the government to set up an inquiry commission to investigate impact of off-shoring.

8216;8216;The response from government so far is that it is not their role to dictate how and where companies make their money. There is also a feeling that the off-shoring phenomenon is merely a symptom caused by the UK economy gearing up the 8216;industrial food chain8217; to become highly skilled and ideas based,8217;8217; Amicus said in a statement. David Fleming, Amicus national secretary for finance, said: 8216;8216;Unless we take action now, the UK could be left as a nation of 8216;fat cats and hairdressers with nothing in between8217;.8217;8217;

Amicus also expressed alarm at the latest trend in outsourcing to India 8212; religion. 8216;8216;Religious services and prayers for the dead are being offshored from the UK to India because of a lack of priests,8217;8217; the union, whose one-million-plus membership includes several thousand clergymen, said.

Amicus cited reports which revealed how more prayers were being said in Kerala because they had become too expensive in the West.

8216;8216;This shows that no aspect of life in the West is sacred,8217;8217; said Fleming. 8216;8216;We have identified 25 different skilled jobs that have been offshored 8212; but saying mass and delivering religious services is a real shock.8217;8217; Amicus spokesman Lee Whitehall said the union was not against offshore religion as such. But he said it highlighted the need for organised labour and government to map out a strategy to minimise the negative impact of outsourcing on both British and Indian workers.