The destruction of the Middle Classes commences

amcluesent

Back in the day, Thatcher responded to the demands of the Tory's paymasters by smashing the blue-collar worker and trades unions, destroying the miners pour encourager les autres.

Since that time, boardroom pay and bonuses have sky-rocketed as corporates chase ever-lower wage economies for manufacturing. The never to be repeated low cost of oil allowed millions of containers of cheap plastic items to come from China, all paid for on the never-never.

Now corporate executives have a new target, and the Tory's are eager-beavers to smash this group too.

I mean of course, professional, salaried employees in finance, HR, IT, R&D, marketing etc. Their annoyingly high salaries, generous T&C and pension liabilities are preventing the top-team getting a further 25% on their 'performance bonus'. So they must and will be smashed, like the miners.

Anyone who thinks that studying, getting a 'good' job and a career is available to them in the UK is sadly an idiot.

Temping, zero-hours contracts, right-sizing, off-shoring, the interweb etc. etc. will see to that.

FACT - everyone who uses a computer for their work is now scuppered. There's millions who are younger, faster, cheaper in Lithuania/India/China/Chile who will be doing your job within 5 years. Even a 2:1 or 1st will mean little when equivalent skills are available on a reverse-auction web-site and half the world is undercutting each other to get the work.

England is finished. By 2050, the living will envy the dead.

wageslave

amcluesent wrote: »

. By 2050, the living will envy the dead.

It's Sunday and you are being ridiculous.

Go and wash your car or something

Generali

I work in an office with 8 floors. One of those will be entirely offshored within 3 years according to the current business plan.

These are operational banking jobs, not glamorous but well paid for what they are and a really good entry into the business (well it worked for me). These aren't middle class jobs but they are solid prole white collar roles.

exil

Well, it's already happening in IT. I expect the current movement of workers from the Indian subcontinent to the West to go into reverse as European and American programmers head to Bangalore to find work.

We white collar and middle class workers didn't seem to worry that much when workers in manufacturing in the West had their jobs exported to the 3rd world in the 1980s and 90s. Now it's happening to us.

Thrugelmir

amcluesent wrote: »

Back in the day, Thatcher responded to the demands of the Tory's paymasters by smashing the blue-collar worker and trades unions, destroying the miners pour encourager les autres.

You mean Unions like the ASTMS. ( Association of Scientific Technical and Managerial Staff). Even us with more right leanings were Union representatives.

Our dislike was where our subscriptions went in terms of political donations. As we had no choice in the matter. Like the rail unions now, there was a hard core of very left leaning and thinking individuals who dominated our local branch.

Unions or staff associations do serve useful purposes. Unfortunately they seem too often to get hijacked for other reasons. Little of which has any interest to, affect on, or other benefit to the wider membership. Who just require a fair deal from their employer.

marklv

amcluesent wrote: »

Back in the day, Thatcher responded to the demands of the Tory's paymasters by smashing the blue-collar worker and trades unions, destroying the miners pour encourager les autres.

Since that time, boardroom pay and bonuses have sky-rocketed as corporates chase ever-lower wage economies for manufacturing. The never to be repeated low cost of oil allowed millions of containers of cheap plastic items to come from China, all paid for on the never-never.

Now corporate executives have a new target, and the Tory's are eager-beavers to smash this group too.

I mean of course, professional, salaried employees in finance, HR, IT, R&D, marketing etc. Their annoyingly high salaries, generous T&C and pension liabilities are preventing the top-team getting a further 25% on their 'performance bonus'. So they must and will be smashed, like the miners.

Anyone who thinks that studying, getting a 'good' job and a career is available to them in the UK is sadly an idiot.

Temping, zero-hours contracts, right-sizing, off-shoring, the interweb etc. etc. will see to that.

FACT - everyone who uses a computer for their work is now scuppered. There's millions who are younger, faster, cheaper in Lithuania/India/China/Chile who will be doing your job within 5 years. Even a 2:1 or 1st will mean little when equivalent skills are available on a reverse-auction web-site and half the world is undercutting each other to get the work.

England is finished. By 2050, the living will envy the dead.

I agree. This is happening already. The insane mania for outsourcing will destroy British middle class jobs, just as working class jobs were destroyed in the 1980s by Mrs Thatcher. The middle class will disappear, leaving a veneer of super-paid lawyers and doctors, while the only ones to benefit will be the very senior management. A huge flood of Chinese and Indians will work, either in their home countries or in the UK, to do jobs that British workers used to do for a fraction of the British salary costs. British graduates will be reduced to working as shop assistants or serving at Burger King. This is the future.

marklv

exil wrote: »

Well, it's already happening in IT. I expect the current movement of workers from the Indian subcontinent to the West to go into reverse as European and American programmers head to Bangalore to find work.

We white collar and middle class workers didn't seem to worry that much when workers in manufacturing in the West had their jobs exported to the 3rd world in the 1980s and 90s. Now it's happening to us.

Well, the only reason that there are still any IT jobs left in the UK is because the bl**dy Indians are too muddle headed to be decent managers. So they need Westerners to drum some order and logic into the way they work. Otherwise even the managers would all be Indians now.

Kohoutek

amcluesent wrote: »

Back in the day, Thatcher responded to the demands of the Tory's paymasters by smashing the blue-collar worker and trades unions, destroying the miners pour encourager les autres.

Since that time, boardroom pay and bonuses have sky-rocketed as corporates chase ever-lower wage economies for manufacturing. The never to be repeated low cost of oil allowed millions of containers of cheap plastic items to come from China, all paid for on the never-never.

So we will have more manufacturing jobs in the future then?

amcluesent wrote: »

Anyone who thinks that studying, getting a 'good' job and a career is available to them in the UK is sadly an idiot.

Temping, zero-hours contracts, right-sizing, off-shoring, the interweb etc. etc. will see to that.

FACT - everyone who uses a computer for their work is now scuppered. There's millions who are younger, faster, cheaper in Lithuania/India/China/Chile who will be doing your job within 5 years. Even a 2:1 or 1st will mean little when equivalent skills are available on a reverse-auction web-site and half the world is undercutting each other to get the work.

England is finished. By 2050, the living will envy the dead.

If offshoring is taken to that extreme as you envisage, then it stops being a purely economic issue and becomes a political one too. Just because we live in a globalised economy now doesn't mean it will stay that way, especially if it has the effect of making hundreds of thousands of people unemployed and desperate. I think that eventual government barriers against offshoring are more likely than CEOs and dentists ending up being the only people with jobs!

poppingjay

marklv wrote: »

Well, the only reason that there are still any IT jobs left in the UK is because the bl**dy Indians are too muddle headed to be decent managers. So they need Westerners to drum some order and logic into the way they work. Otherwise even the managers would all be Indians now.

Watch this if you get the chance, it's gives a wonderful explanation of the exact point you raise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7QwxbImhZI

My two penneth...

Our government will continue to do as it likes for as long as we let it, the most uppity we ever seem to get is with the immigrants themselves, which is of no use whatsoever. The red team v blue team mirage is an absolute con to give you the illusion that you've got a choice... you haven't. A handful of money men are playing a great big game of monopoly with your lives and until these maniacs are ousted any tweaking of the system is about as helpful as rearranging the furniture on the Titanic. Apathy and misdirected anger has allowed this to happen.

marklv

poppingjay wrote: »

Watch this if you get the chance, it's gives a wonderful explanation of the exact point you raise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7QwxbImhZI

My two penneth...

Our government will continue to do as it likes for as long as we let it, the most uppity we ever seem to get is with the immigrants themselves, which is of no use whatsoever. The red team v blue team mirage is an absolute con to give you the illusion that you've got a choice... you haven't. A handful of money men are playing a great big game of monopoly with your lives and until these maniacs are ousted any tweaking of the system is about as helpful as rearranging the furniture on the Titanic. Apathy and misdirected anger has allowed this to happen.

I'm not angry with the immigrants, after all they are only trying to better their own position. I'm angry with the scum politicians of left and right who are self-serving bast**ds who are quite happy to see this great nation sink into sludge as long as they get paid by the rich elite, establishment, 'illuminati', call them what you will. The Queen is also to blame as she never says or does anything to contradict the politicians.

Alan_Cross

The OP exaggerates, perhaps, but his basic theme is valid.

Tory supporters on these fora lambasted Gordon Brown for putting inadequate safeguards in place against the bonus culture and cloud cuckoo financial management - while, needless to say, quietly forgetting that Thatcher and Major between them had left absolutely zero regulation in place.

The flight of jobs to lower salary countries will now accelerate as the Tories, equally quietly, abandon middle class professionals during Sunday morning, golf course stitch-up chats in favour of this dividend payout or that yachting holiday invitation.

It's the Tory toff way. Always has been. Always will be. No amount of conscience-ectomied Libdem figleaves will be able to hide the fact eventually.