Indo-Asian News Service
London, February 20
The European Union (EU) must stop British firms moving
hundreds of thousands of jobs to countries such as India, a Member of
European Parliament (MEP) from the Midlands says.
Labour's Michael Cashman (West Midlands) joined trade
union Amicus to call for a Europe-wide plan to address the "off-shoring"
of jobs from Britain and other EU states.
Amicus is organising a consumer boycott of companies
that have moved jobs to India.
It is working with the National Union of Students on
a campaign encouraging students to blacklist companies including HSBC,
British Airways and Norwich Union.
Cashman said Thursday that he wanted the European Commission
to take action to end the trend.
He said: "Every day EU companies, particularly
in the UK, France, Spain and Scandinavia, outsource key jobs in areas
such as call centres, airlines, legal processing and finance to developing
countries like India.
"British jobs are going to India, French jobs are
going to North Africa, Spanish jobs are going to South and Central America,
German jobs are going to Eastern Europe and Africa and Scandinavian
jobs are going to the Baltic states and India.
"While some of these jobs will benefit developing
countries, I believe more needs to be done to respond to these dramatic
job losses, which can leave communities in shock."