As I mentioned in yesterday’s report on FMQs, Amazon, the biggest on-line retailer in the UK announced yesterday with Mr Salmond, that there will be yesterday they are to created an additional 200 jobs at their Gourock sit, and that they will be opening a new centre employing 750 people at a new 39-acre site in Dunfermline.
Additionally, the company says that at peak periods they are likely to need an additional 1500 temporary workers.
There was stiff international competition for the new centre in Dunfermline and the government has been involved in supporting the bid to bring those jobs to Scotland with aid through training grants and Regional Selective Assistance. A total of £2, 500,000 is thought to have been invested; however this is small beer when 750 permanent full time salaries and additional temporary work is considered. The difference to the area, with this boost, will be considerable, and of course extra jobs will be created in supporting jobs in food catering, shops, and entertainment.
Mr Allan Lyall, of Amazon said that he recognised the excellence of the local work force along with the professionalism of Scottish Development International in making the decision to invest in Scotland.
Alex said it was a very significant boost to the economy.
Most of the workers will be employed in packing and shipping the wide variety of goods that Amazon sells.
The new building, which will be situated by the M90 near the junction with the A92, will cover one million square feet. Building work will start immediately and it is hoped to have the centre up and running by the end of the year.
This is the kind of news we need to hear more of in Scotland. Hearty congratulations to everyone who was involved. As they say in France “Bonne continuation”!
Additionally, the company says that at peak periods they are likely to need an additional 1500 temporary workers.
There was stiff international competition for the new centre in Dunfermline and the government has been involved in supporting the bid to bring those jobs to Scotland with aid through training grants and Regional Selective Assistance. A total of £2, 500,000 is thought to have been invested; however this is small beer when 750 permanent full time salaries and additional temporary work is considered. The difference to the area, with this boost, will be considerable, and of course extra jobs will be created in supporting jobs in food catering, shops, and entertainment.
Mr Allan Lyall, of Amazon said that he recognised the excellence of the local work force along with the professionalism of Scottish Development International in making the decision to invest in Scotland.
Alex said it was a very significant boost to the economy.
Most of the workers will be employed in packing and shipping the wide variety of goods that Amazon sells.
The new building, which will be situated by the M90 near the junction with the A92, will cover one million square feet. Building work will start immediately and it is hoped to have the centre up and running by the end of the year.
This is the kind of news we need to hear more of in Scotland. Hearty congratulations to everyone who was involved. As they say in France “Bonne continuation”!
Actually these jobs are peanuts compared to the jobs that have been and are going to be lost in High Streets all over the country.
ReplyDeletePlus the fact that online stores such as Amazon are not cheap, I don't buy much from them because of that. You can see the stupidity of people buying online when people have become millionaires by buying stuff in the pound shops and selling it online for twice to three times the price.
If the Shops in the Cities and Towns keep disappearing then so will all the other businesses that are supported by these workers locally also. These online developments are ultimately bad news for jobs!
Well I'd beg to differ about Amazon. I have to say that I only buy books and cd/dvds from them, but their prices are far far cheaper than the High Street, and, unlike HMV they actually stock stuff that isn't in the charts at this moment.
ReplyDeleteAs for books, you can cut about a third off what Waterstone's or WH Smith are charging.
OK, I accept that if we all buy on line the High Street will disappear, but with prices like they have I just can't afford to ignore online purchases.
It's the same as Morrisons versus the corner store. I'd much rather support the corner store, but they don't stock the kind of things I want, and the few things that I could buy from them are VASTLY more expensive.
Many of the old ways provided more jobs, but we can't go back to the 1950s, (at least not until China, India and Brazil become to expensive for us to buy from, and then we will have to start manufacturing again ourselves. About 60 or 70 years from now, maybe shorter.
tris
ReplyDeleteseeing it is manufacturing which by common consent
is keeping the British economy from a depression perhaps you two need a rethink.
The reason manufacturing went down the pan was due to Thatcherism(whose economic policies Alex salmond agreed with).
You have to ask why Germany is the economic powerhouse which is driving the European economy........who unlike the Brits still have a belief in and support a thriving manufacturing sector.
Giving up on manufacturing is like a self fulfilling prophecy the truth is Manufacturing was almost destroyed by the Torys just to eliminate trade unions.
The reason manufacturing went down the pan was due to Thatcherism(whose economic policies Alex salmond agreed with).
ReplyDeleteI would lay off the caffeine Niko as recommended by Jackie Baillie and you might get a case of booze.
Niko:
ReplyDeleteHow many times does it have to be pointed out to you that Alex did not say that he approved of mrs Thatcher's policies.
That's something that that wee Murphy the beanstalk made up, when he couldn't find any thing of substance to criticise in the SNP.
Alex said that it was more her social policies than her economic policies that the Scots hated, or words to that effect.
That is to say that Scotland isn't anti business; it isn't anti profit; it isn't anti getting on, but it's certainly against the wholesale destruction of communities sacrificed on the temple of "there is no such thing as society".
Peter Mandleson never suggested that mushy peas were guacamole; Jim Callaghan never said “Crisis what Crisis” and Alex never said that he approved, or Scots approved of Mrs Thatcher’s economic policy.
You’re just a blether.
As for manufacturing. It would be fantastic if we could get back to making stuff. Unfortunately the small boost that we see at the moment in manufacturing is all about a very very weak pound which make our few manufactured goods reasonably cheap. Soon interest rates will have to go up, because the governments made up inflation figures cannot stay low forever. Gas, Electricity Petrol, Vat, Food, Insurance, Furnishings, transport. All these things are going up at between 10 and 20 per cent. It’s only a matter of time before the inflation figures will have to show that. At that point the interest rates will have to rise, and probably pretty quickly, the value of the pound will rise with it, and exports will fall accordingly.
I agree though Germany did the right thing under Chancellor Kohl and the UK got it wrong as usual under Mr Thatcher.
What we need is a revolution. Nothing will change under the status quo.
Did Jackie recommend that Cynical? Oh dear... I live on the stuff!
ReplyDeleteStill, I don't think I want to grow up to look like Jackie, do you?
Good news indeed, but all my life I've been puzzled with the vast amounts of taxpayers money given out to multinationals as a bribe. In a past life I was involved with such matters and the number of companies who had new, customised factories built for them was astonishing. Around 75% of them upped sticks when the gravy train stopped, leaving a trail of useless buildings in their wake.
ReplyDeleteLet's remember Amazon is a supplier and not a manufacturer. It's people who make things we need most of all.
Oh yes SR. I agree completely. As a person who works in trying to get people into employment, I know as well as any how much so many men and lads in particular want good hard factory type work.
ReplyDeleteThey'll take shop and warehouse stuff, but they much prefer to be making something, and as quite a few of them say, "get my hands dirty".
Of course that is good for the overall economy too, because it keeps money in the country if WE buy the stuff they make, and saves money going to China, India or Germany, etc, where they do make things.
But, for 950 families this is excellent news, because instead of the indignity of having to queue up and sign on for a miserable pittance, they will have a wage coming in and the dignity of supporting themselves. And whilst it's not the best news, it is nonetheless for them, fantastic news. Additionally they will spend money in local shops and bars, so it's good news for the area.
It's good too because they are full time jobs, So many service industries offer part time work, which, although it's a godsend to some, is no use for most.
*****
And for those out there who think that Scots are benefit junkies, who flit between the pub and the bookies all day, come and spend a week with me and you'll see how much people want to work, and the things they are prepared to do to get that work.
Yes, there are lazy tossers here in Scotland, as there are in France and Mozambique and Japan and, even England and all over the world. It’s part of the human condition. But they really are a minority.