Dell Closes Ireland Plant; 2nd Largest Employer 494
Wide Angle writes in with a PBS report on tough economic news from Ireland: Dell announced that it will relocate its manufacturing plant in Limerick, Ireland to Lodz, Poland. "Dell's announcement... is a severe blow to the Irish economy, which has been hit hard and fast by the global economic crisis. Dell is Ireland's second-largest corporate employer and the country's largest exporter. Nineteen hundred shift workers will lose their jobs. ...Dell's closing is not a result of the economic downturn, but of a pattern all too familiar in the United States — corporations' perennial search for cheaper labor. Since 2000 several companies, such as Procter & Gamble, Intel, Gateway, and NEC Electronics, have moved manufacturing jobs from Ireland to China, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. When Poland joined the European Union in 2004, it became an attractive place for companies to set up manufacturing plants. ... However, Ireland has managed to maintain and attract... 'knowledge-intensive jobs.' Google's European headquarters are based in Dublin, and Facebook announced late last year that they would locate their international headquarters there. But the overall economic picture for Ireland is bleak."
There once was... (Score:3, Funny)
Despicable tags! (Score:1, Funny)
You guys are just asking to get bombed by the IRA!
Re:Numbers seem odd (Score:5, Funny)
The population of Ireland is somewhere around 6 million - what does every *else* do there?
Farm potatoes and brew Guinness.
POTATO FAMIN! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Numbers seem odd (Score:5, Funny)
There. Fixed it for ya.
This calls for an Irish Limerick (Score:5, Funny)
Whose employment prospects grew lesser and lesser,
It at last grew so small
He had no job skills at all,
And now he's a college professor.
Re:There once was... (Score:5, Funny)
There once was a company called Dell,
Who saw their costs starting to swell,
Labor in Lodz
Attracted their jobs,
So they told the Irish, "Go to hell".
Re:There once was...here are the funny bits: (Score:5, Funny)
Whose dick was so long he could suck it.
While wiping his chin,
He said with a grin,
"If my ear were a cunt, I could fuck it."
--- and here is the extended version of the original ---
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
part 2:
But he followed the pair to Pawtucket,
The man and the girl with the bucket;
And he said to the man,
He was welcome to Nan,
But as for the bucket, Pawtucket.
part 3:
Then the pair followed Pa to Manhasset,
Where he still held the cash as an asset,
But Nan and the man
Stole the money and ran,
And as for the bucket, Manhasset.
Dood, You'll Be Gettin' A Pink Slip! (Score:1, Funny)
Now fook off, ya gobshite!
Re:willingness to relocate (Score:4, Funny)
Re:There once was... (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe I can help.
The correct pronunciation of the word "Woodge" is something like the Polish pronunciation of "Lodz".
Re:willingness to relocate (Score:1, Funny)
I'll just call it Eireland to satisfy both sides.
Re:There once was... (Score:5, Funny)
Dell, as they moved away, laughed,
"To pay your wages we'd be daft."
On pink slips they wrote
A rude little note
"Dude, you're getting the shaft!"
Re:There once was... (Score:5, Funny)
And when the Lodzians wanted their pay,
Dell ran numbers and told them 'no way'.
They moved to Myanmar --
like all industry stars --
where the workers get eight cents a day.
But labor still cost too much wealth.
(For some workers were older than twelve!)
Dell's great business plan,
could not involve man:
They were modeled on magical elves.
So Dell finally settled in Congo.
Every PC they now make, as you know,
is constructed on skimp
by two apes and a chimp.
(And the chimp's job security is low.)
Parallels (Score:3, Funny)
Like Bush, Micheal Dell did not forget Poland.
Thank you I'll be here all week.
Re:willingness to relocate (Score:5, Funny)
[in a heavy Indian accent]
CSR: Thank you for calling [company] technical support, my name is "Bob", and how may I service you this fine morning.
Customer: What?
CSR: Good morning, and how can I be helping you.
Customer: Morning? It's 9pm. Where the hell are you?
CSR: We are in ... uhhh ... New Jersey.
Customer: I'm in New York, and it's 9pm here.
CSR: Oh, I am begging of your forgiveness for my incorrectness in that statement, we are in the other New Jersey.
Customer: What?
CSR: We are in New Jersey, India.
Customer: {sigh} Ok, I'm having a problem with my some-computer 5100.
CSR: I am very sorry that you are having discomfort with your "some-computer 500", how may I help you resolve this issue.
Customer: No, a some-computer 5100, not a 500.
CSR: Oh, I am begging your forgiveness [balls up some paper by the handset] there must be line noise. So you have 50 some-computer 100 that are not working. I will have to transfer you to large business support, please hold [hold music]
Customer: WAIT!!
Ok, that sounds funny and all, but I swear I've had so many variations of that call, ONLY with off-shore call centers. It's not a matter that they're in India, it's that the people I always end up get have poor training, terrible phone skills, and an equal American in the position should be fired. Since the companies farm out the work to the cheapest places, they're hiring the cheapest employees too. Now, the American call centers seem to be reserved for the highest level technical folks, who have years of experience, and know what they're doing. It's just a nice added advantage that they speak English well. :)
Re:willingness to relocate (Score:3, Funny)
I thought Europe was more restrictive than the US in terms of free speech (didn't some guy in Austria go to jail for denying the Holocaust?)
Re:willingness to relocate (Score:3, Funny)
Cut him some slack man, we may be slashdotters, but we're still mainly american. And you know how well that bodes for our expertise in geography.
Hell, I myself thought he was talking about the lake, not the country.