The (Indian) FTV's are growing

[DimPrawn]

http://management.silicon.com/career...9165881,00.htm

The number of work permits allowing foreign IT workers to come to the UK has increased by a third in the last year, raising fears the scheme is being abused to import cheap labour.

Work Permits UK, the Home Office body responsible for visas, has revealed 33,756 permits were issued to overseas IT workers in the last 12 months - up 32 per cent on the 25,000 the previous year.

Most of the visas - 79 per cent - were granted to Indian IT workers, and the number of techies coming to the UK from India increased by 47 per cent to 26,835 in the past year.

The figures were obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (Atsco), which is concerned at the high level of intra-company transfers, where companies relocated their IT staff between offices in different countries.

Intra-company transfers accounted for three-quarters of all the work permits granted and Atsco claims some companies are using this to import cheap labour from overseas rather than use UK IT workers - a phenomenon dubbed "onshore offshoring".

Ann Swain, CEO of Atsco, said in a statement: "This is being driven by cheap labour costs, not necessarily skills shortages within the UK. The Home Office should vet applications much more thoroughly but it needs additional resources."

Swain said the concern is that with the Home Office inundated with applications, some organisations are only "paying lip-service" to the legal requirement to thoroughly search for candidates within the UK.

She said: "The irony is that while low-skilled IT jobs are being shipped to India, highly skilled Indian IT professionals are coming to the UK to take up managerial roles."

Trade union Amicus also warned the IT work permit scheme is being abused to import cheap tech labour at the expense of resident UK IT professionals.

The figures obtained by Atsco also reveal the scale of the increase in IT work permits over the last decade, from just 1,827 in 1995.

Oh Dear - Looks like New Labour are shipping all the UK work they can offshore to India, whilst replacing the remaining UK workforce with cheap, government approved workers. Nice one. Keep voting Labour folks!

[Euro-commuter]

The number of work permits allowing foreign IT workers to come to the UK has increased by a third in the last year, raising fears the scheme is being abused to import cheap labour.
...
Ann Swain, CEO of Atsco, said in a statement: "This is being driven by cheap labour costs, not necessarily skills shortages within the UK. The Home Office should vet applications much more thoroughly but it needs additional resources."

Swain said the concern is that with the Home Office inundated with applications, some organisations are only "paying lip-service" to the legal requirement to thoroughly search for candidates within the UK.
...
Oh Dear - Looks like New Labour are shipping all the UK work they can offshore to India, whilst replacing the remaining UK workforce with cheap, government approved workers. Nice one. Keep voting Labour folks!

Doubt very much if the Tories will be different.

Not surprised there's a "skills shortage" though: who'd go into IT now? Support yourself through a fee-paying degree, accumulate a student loan, find out that you're too expensive, then suddenly all your knowledge is obsoleted. All you have left is the loan to pay off.

No wonder that hard-pressed employers, unable to pay the rate for the job, poor things, are driven to import thousands who have lower financial needs, no loans to pay back, good degrees (harder to verify but so what), and plenty of spot-on recent relevant experience, as can be verified by a phone call to one or two of their cousins.

PS It has not been often that I have found myself in agreement with Ann Swain over the years. I take it that these Indian incomers are being sourced through agencies outside Ms Swain's domain, then?

[DimPrawn]

Doubt very much if the Tories will be different.

That's a strange thing to say.

We know 100% that New Labour are behind this and actively support "inshoring" of cheap labour to destroy the home grown IT business.

So you may as well vote Labour?

[Buffoon]

Doubt very much if the Tories will be different.

Sadly, that is true.

In any case I have forwarded the link to David Cameron and David Davis as Home Secretary.

I won’t hold my breath for a response though.

I won’t bother sending it to my MP as its George Galloway. Although he normally enjoys anything that he can bash the Labour government with, but his Respect Party is a front for the Socialist Workers Party. We won’t be getting any help from them.

[cojak]

I'm definitely seeing it on this project. I have a very nice Indian chap who's taking over from me.

He's in a state of high anxiety at the moment 'cos he doesn't have a job description or a roles & responsibilities doc (Good Luck on that one..) and he's terrified about what he's going to be expected to do once I'm gone.

I've already told him I won't be taking calls once I'm in another contract...

[Churchill]

Cheap as chappattis!
(Spelling probably bolloxed but who gives a feck.)

Btw, any CV that crosses my desk that requires a work permit goes straight in the little round filing cabinet on the floor.

[Lockhouse]

Btw, any CV that crosses my desk that requires a work permit goes straight in the little round filing cabinet on the floor.

Mine as well - simply because every single one that I've called into interview has lied on their CV about their experience.

[DodgyAgent]

No excuse

With the plethora of IT people from eastern Europe (whether one likes them or not) there is little or no excuse whatsoever for any FTVs to be issued.

[DimPrawn]

Agreed. If these UK companies cannot find workers in the whole of the enlarged EU, then I'm a monkey's uncle.

In reality it is a government endorsed way of bringing in cheap labour to undermine the UK IT services market.

cnuts the lot of em.

[Buffoon]

I’m sorted, I’m outta ‘ere, but what are you guys going to do about this? We know that all but a tiny fraction of these work permits are fraudulent and British workers are being displaced. Why aren’t you getting organised?

Those HSMP guys have. They are using the acceptable face of migrants namely doctors and nurses to gain publicity for their plight. The BBC doesn’t report that they have gotten their jobs by taking them away from other do they?

Doesn’t anyone have the wit to attack the government on this one? Fraud, corruption, job losses, etc it’s got loads of material. It is well past time that contractors became more innovative in its own defence. Stop belly aching and do something.