Indian CEO to Fire 1,500 British Workers for Poor Work Culture
Oh, the irony. An Indian is lambasting Brits on work ethic.
Ratan Tata, the head of an international steel company Tata Steel, has branded British workers "lazy" and "unwilling to go the extra mile", a day after his firm announced a possible cut of 1,500 U.K jobs. Tata made the comments as the company proposed to close or mothball part of its Scunthorpe plant, putting at risk 1,200 jobs. Tata Steel also said that another 300 jobs could be cut at its Teesside operations, in the northeast of England.
Tata, who is a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group, and co-chairman of the UK-India CEO Forum, described his surprise at the attitudes of bosses at steel maker Corus and car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which he bought in 2006 and 2008 respectively. The 73-year-old owner of Tata Steel, which runs the Corus plant in Port Talbot, launched the attack on the “work ethic” of bosses at steel maker Corus, which he bought in 2006.
"In my experience, in both Corus and JLR, nobody is willing to go the extra mile, nobody," Tata told The Times. I feel if you have come from Bombay to have a meeting and the meeting goes till 6pm, I would expect that you won't, at 5 o'clock, say, 'Sorry, I have my train to catch. I have to go home.'
He also said that it was impossible to get hold of workers from either firm at the weekends, starting from 3:30 p.m. on Friday. In India, "if you are in a crisis, if it means working to midnight, you would do it."
Roy Rickhuss, Community Union’s national officer for Steel, said Tata’s comments were “at best, ill thought out and insensitive”.
“I’m shocked and extremely disappointed that the company would make comments of that nature, particularly at a time when they have just announced significant cutbacks in the UK," Rickhuss said. "The British workforce has been totally committed and delivers year on year productivity increases in the region of 10%, which is equal to world best practice."
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