Job Cuts

[Western SMT]

Dell is cutting jobs -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7817487.stm

[G-CPTN]

From elsewhere:-
Wham, bang, thank you ma'am (Dell, Eire and the EU)
As someone who has bought several PCs from Dell Computer over the years, ORAC's original post "Blow for Ireland as Dell quits" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...ell-quits.html ) here intrigued me to investigate further in the endeavour to answer some questions.

Why would Dell almost unceremoniously end its amorous affair with Eire dating back from the '90s? Eire, with all her charms and 12.5% corporate tax rate? Was it a case of classical infidelity, saggy **** or a newly-discovered Polish "je ne sais quoi"?

It's important to Eire because Dell contributes anywhere between 2 and 5% of the country's GDP depending on which website you consult. And important to the rest of us in the EU in 2 ways: 1) 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce on average and 2) if you're marrying a corporation, should one insist on a pre-nuptial agreement in future?

In the beginning (the romantic period)...

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And an American corporation named Dell found Eire; an alluring face surrounded by the darkness of the European continent.
And Dell saw the light: a 12.5% corporate tax rate, that it was good: and Dell divided the light from the darkness, creating employment.
And the EU approved the light, that it was good: and the EU's bounty fell upon the parched sands of Eire.

Sometime in the interim period, before things soured (the transition between old and new testament?)...

And Dell saw, where before, there was light: that now, that light had been transformed into personal greed and avarice - that the light was dimming.
"Sodom" said Dell (according to the gospel of Michael): let us renew the source of the light. Let us move closer towards Jerusalem.

The revelation(s)...

Bracknell, September 18, 2006: ( http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/to...uk&l=en&s=corp )
Quote:
Dell is expanding its manufacturing operations in Europe by building a facility at Łódź, Poland to meet increased demand and support the company's growth across Central and Eastern Europe. Scheduled to open in Autumn 2007, the new facility is expected to employ around 1,000 people initially...

...The new facility represents a Dell investment of €200 million in the growing Polish economy. Further indirect investment by Dell suppliers in the region is expected to be around €53 million. According to Dell, the new factory in Poland will be among the most advanced worldwide, offering improved flow of materials and newly-designed ergonomic manufacturing cells.
November 20, 2007: ( http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/to...uk&l=en&s=corp )
Quote:
“Our customers are now receiving premium class computers ‘Made in Poland’,” said Nicky Hartery, vice president of operations, Dell EMEA. “Locating the facility in the heart of Europe puts us much closer to our customers in the expanding markets of Central and Eastern Europe. And being closer to our customers means we can get product to them faster.”

The site in Łódź is Dell’s second manufacturing facility in Europe; the other being in Limerick, Ireland. The plant construction was completed in less than one year. Initially, 400 employees who trained in Limerick will operate the plant with the employment expected to increase to 1,100 by January.

The standard corporate tax rate in Eire is 12.5%, the standard corporate tax rate in Poland is 19.0%, unless that is, you invest in a Polish "special economic zone" ( http://london.trade.gov.pl/en/download/file/f,1166
wholly-approved and subsidised by the EU). Whilst being a fully-fledged EU member with aspirations to eventually join the €uro, Poland is not yet part of the €urozone.

Compared to Eire therefore, Poland's only qualifications in the current divorce proceedings are that 1) average Polish labour rates are a fraction of those compared to elsewhere in the EU (including Eire): 2) the EU is itself the origin of substantial funds used in the transfer of jobs from 1 EU country to another - and all to the profit of an American computer company...?!

Further to my earlier extract and emphasis:
Quote:
Initially, 400 employees who trained in Limerick will operate the plant with the employment expected to increase to 1,100 by January
I read somewhere that there were somewhere between 200,000 and 500,000 Polish workers in Eire up until the recent economic downturn.

If it only takes 400 ex. Eire Polish workers to learn whatever's necessary to 'work from home' and become the core of Dell's latest initiative in Poland in their dominance of PC sales (2nd only to another American corporation), with wallops of EU approved and aided ice-cream, where will the Poles be in another few years...?!

Somewhat belatedly, the EU has launched an investigation into the Polish government's subsidies to Dell's Polish unit. I onder if an Irishman was behind the complaint...?! ( http://www.reuters.com/article/ameri...84245920090108 )

Looks like whilst the USA generally disapproves of an EU, or at least any political or strong economic union, her corporations are reaping all the benefits whilst they last. But what of Eire and her citizens, now one of the richest per capita within Europe? Are they destined to become once again, a nation of emigrants, awaiting the next potato famine?

When will all Europeans wake up and realise that the EU is now nothing more than a rich gravy train serving special interests? Starting with EU politicians and institutions, followed by mostly European corporations, closely followed by American and other ones...?! Sad to say it, but increasingly, I believe that the EU is nothing more than a group of mainly aspiring / conspiring "do-gooders" who expect their ambitions to be attained within their own life-times whilst earning comparatively pharoahnic salaries by virtue of their state-provided university degrees.

Having said all that, I'm somewhat surprised that Dell have not yet asked the US or EU for any financial aid during this credit-crunch (unlike Ford and GM). Or perhaps they don't really need it, having already quaffed their thirst from on-going EU programs that pre-ordaine the death and rebirth of initiatives within the EU...?! An EU-initiative has never been a source of unfair financial gain in the markets. Long live the city of London ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7821600.stm ). Why does everyone complain about Switzerland, the Cayman Islands or Bermuda - it strikes me that London is, always has been and will continue to be the world's most important market open to all-comers...?!

[Energumen]

And so say all of us. Albeit less plagiaristically and fluently.

Well put G-CPTN, but every cloud... how long before Poland has all the employment, higher rates and living standards, and they all go home.

I say that without disrespect to the majority of Polish immigrants, who work as the Irish used to in England in the fifties, but are generally better trained and qualified.

[wilfo098]

The local tv interviewed some Polish workers this week who were returning back to Poland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7824602.stm perhaps Drivers too Regards, Alan