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Contractors are Thatchers children

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    Contractors are Thatchers children

    The IT contractor is the embodiment of Thatcherism as it was supposed to be:

    IT contractors enjoy their personal freedom and independence from mainstream "employment" and from corporate/unionised politics. At the same they take their own responsibility for their pensions, their health and the welfare of their families. They are not public school toffs born with silver spoons in their mouths, they instead come from a wide variety of backgrounds. They have taken their education seriously and acknowledge that they are of value to others in society.

    Nor are contractors greedy and selfish (as I have often accused them of -usually as a joke ). They work hard and for example according to statistics, take far fewer days off work than any other type of employee.

    IT contractors have been handed the opportunity to flourish (no coincidence that the market kicked off in the early eighties) by the deregulation of the banking and electricity/power markets and the freeing of business (the printing industry in particular) from the clutches of the trade unions. They have been handed on a plate the opportunity to work as freelance limited companies and they have been incentivised by the reforms to tax introduced by Thatchers government.- The sale of council houses was part of Thatchers strategy to free the working classes from the clutches of Union only labour and state provided housing.

    Now I know that a good number of you hate and vilify her (which suggests that she represents something that touches a raw nerve, rathere than logic or reason) but those of you who like to think that she represents all the worse aspects of a free society, might like to take a look at yourselves.

    In my view the excesses of capitalism are represented more by the opportunism of recruitment agents and board level ruthlessness. The difference now is that these power excesses were exploited by the socialists and the Unions in a way that killed off enterprise. Today the same power is in different hands, but at least contractors are free (unless labour gets back in) to ply their trade, and the rest of us can create almost any business that we like.

    Thank you Maggie.
    Let us not forget EU open doors immigration benefits IT contractors more than anyone

    #2
    +1

    (Except I'll confess to being greedy and selfish )
    ǝןqqıʍ

    Comment


      #3
      Social mobility i.e the ability for people to move from "working class" to "middle class" was better under the tories.
      For all their hand wringing and despite the unprecedented economic growth, Labour have done more to keep the working class down
      Coffee's for closers

      Comment


        #4
        DA,

        agreed.

        And something else, does anybody remember the 'feel good' atmosphere of the eighties....

        The Clothes Show

        Video rental shops opening everywhere

        Cosworth Sierra's

        ABBA - Money Money Money

        ABBA - The Winner Takes It All

        Queen - Don't Stop Me Now

        The New Statesman

        Everybody (in the South) doing well

        The general feeling of prosperity all around


        Those days and atmosphere have never happened since

        Growing up in the eighties was something very special

        The feeling that everything was possible

        Everybody encouraged to start businesses



        Will such times ever come back ?


        Milan.

        Comment


          #5
          I pretty much agree with you but I think you are in la la land if you think this current bunch of Tories will repeal or even stop the creeping beauracracy of the past decade.

          Comment


            #6
            My dad was a contractor and I saw the earnings he made and liked the idea of the different companies etc. I still remember this woman at uni telling me how money was not a motivating factor in work. It was all advancement and job security. I told her that I wanted to be a contractor and I'd see none of that. She told me that 'when I grow up' I will value these things - cheeky f**ker. Well I've grown up and I still have none of those things and I still have never had a permie job.
            Rule Number 1 - Assuming that you have a valid contract in place always try to get your poo onto your timesheet, provided that the timesheet is valid for your current contract and covers the period of time that you are billing for.

            I preferred version 1!

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Spacecadet View Post
              Labour have done more to keep the working class down
              Of course they do, these are their voters. If they all believed the could succeed, and did, they'd vote tory!

              Maggie is the greatest leader of all time.

              Comment


                #8
                Don't forget that the 80's also saw a huge expansion in the industry and the need for large numbers of software engineers while the contracting pool provide employer flexibility. My dad was a freelancer back in the 60's so it wasn't necessarily something new but probably easier under Maggie.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by rootsnall View Post
                  I pretty much agree with you but I think you are in la la land if you think this current bunch of Tories will repeal or even stop the creeping beauracracy of the past decade.
                  Did I say they would?
                  Let us not forget EU open doors immigration benefits IT contractors more than anyone

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by TonyEnglish View Post
                    My dad was a contractor and I saw the earnings he made and liked the idea of the different companies etc. I still remember this woman at uni telling me how money was not a motivating factor in work. It was all advancement and job security. I told her that I wanted to be a contractor and I'd see none of that. She told me that 'when I grow up' I will value these things - cheeky f**ker. Well I've grown up and I still have none of those things and I still have never had a permie job.
                    Jobs for life have gone, any permanent position is only as safe as the notice period.
                    Of course the longer an employee is with the company then the more expensive it is to make them redundant. Hence the last in first out cop out excuse that is used when redundancies are being made.
                    The company then ends up full of incompetant staff it can't afford to lay off, eventually goes bust and people are lucky if they are paid their salaries let alone the redundancy money.
                    Coffee's for closers

                    Comment

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