As British banks and insurance companies locate call centres in India, Amicus, the largest UK union, today warned it would have a ‘‘devastating impact’’, 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.‘‘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 ‘industrial food chain’ to become highly skilled and ideas based,’’ Amicus said in a statement. David Fleming, Amicus national secretary for finance, said: ‘‘Unless we take action now, the UK could be left as a nation of ‘fat cats and hairdressers with nothing in between’.’’Amicus also expressed alarm at the latest trend in outsourcing to India — religion. ‘‘Religious services and prayers for the dead are being offshored from the UK to India because of a lack of priests,’’ 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.‘‘This shows that no aspect of life in the West is sacred,’’ said Fleming. ‘‘We have identified 25 different skilled jobs that have been offshored — but saying mass and delivering religious services is a real shock.’’ 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.
