They say what goes around, comes around. They also say you reap what you sow. They might even make mention of being hoist by your own petard. Who ‘They’ are remains a mystery, but Their wise words are hitting home in India, where hundreds of thousands of bank workers are threatening strike action… over outsourcing.
Yes, in an ironic twist that will please xenophobes everywhere, employees at state-run Indian banks are laying down their pens on 28 July in protest at plans to outsource back-office functions to cheaper locations.
Critics in India claim the new plans will lead to job losses and a greater risk of fraud. It’s funny, that message seems rather familiar.
Guru does have to question where these cheaper locations may be. At least when UK services were outsourced to India we could be guaranteed that a fairly motivated and literate workforce could deal with our problems.
The obvious solution seems to be Nigeria, Liberia or the like. Guru is forever being assailed by African benefactors who claim they have saved millions of pounds and want to share it with him in return for his bank details.
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They seem to have a good grasp of banking and economics and one cannot understand why they have been overlooked by the financial community for so long – so go on, send services their way.
While we’re on the matter of irony, this article will be sent to Alanis Morissette. The passing of a decade has failed to assuage the frustration over her song ‘Ironic’, which blatantly fails to understand what irony is. How is a black fly in your Chardonnay ironic, damn it?! Rain on your wedding day?! Arghhh!
