Sunday, December 28, 2003
Direct Action
Just back from visiting my family in the Wirral. As I drove back through Wales it was trying desperately to snow. It was only on the higher ground between Newtown and Llandrindod Wells and through the Brecon Beacons that the snow stuck at all however. The beacons were, as usual for this time of the year, spectacularly white toothed ahead of us as we approached Brecon on the A470. Despite this I managed the journey in good time - three and a half hours from the Wirral to Swansea. More travelling later this week so blogging will remain light.
There were not many papers to read through when I got home of course but one letter in Saturday's Western Mail caught my eye. Wales has a large number of call-centre jobs, a lot of which seem to be threatened by the trend to outsource this activity to India. I was involved in fighting one such move earlier this year in relation to the HSBC call-centre in Swansea. It is said that call-centre workers in the Far East improve their English by watching soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders. However, none of them would be able to cope with Welsh and I doubt if Pobol Y Cwm is on the viewing menu. That is why whatever they do most companies who respond to calls and correspondence in Welsh need to maintain a presence in Wales. The suggestion in the letter was simple therefore. If you can speak Welsh make a point of using the language whenever you ring up or write to any call centre. This will increase the number of contacts in Welsh and help to retain jobs here. I cannot speak Welsh but I will be encouraging all who can to do this.
There were not many papers to read through when I got home of course but one letter in Saturday's Western Mail caught my eye. Wales has a large number of call-centre jobs, a lot of which seem to be threatened by the trend to outsource this activity to India. I was involved in fighting one such move earlier this year in relation to the HSBC call-centre in Swansea. It is said that call-centre workers in the Far East improve their English by watching soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders. However, none of them would be able to cope with Welsh and I doubt if Pobol Y Cwm is on the viewing menu. That is why whatever they do most companies who respond to calls and correspondence in Welsh need to maintain a presence in Wales. The suggestion in the letter was simple therefore. If you can speak Welsh make a point of using the language whenever you ring up or write to any call centre. This will increase the number of contacts in Welsh and help to retain jobs here. I cannot speak Welsh but I will be encouraging all who can to do this.
