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By editorial@silicon.com, 14 February 2002 17:45

COMMENT It's been whispered in dark corridors for some time and now the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) has actually come out and said it. The can has been opened and the worms are wriggling out - and the political extremists are sure to try and hang their banners on the issue. The bone of contention which the PCG has seen fit to champion is the abuse of fast track visas to fill IT positions. The PCG has called on the UK government to clamp down on blue chip companies replacing UK nationals with what it claims are often under-skilled but cheaper personnel from overseas, particularly India. The PCG demurred to name the companies its members have complained about which makes its comments even more inflammatory. The immigration hard-liners will cry "Keep British jobs for British people". Liberals will say that the PCG is playing the race card. Both viewpoints are problematic, for obvious reasons. Yet this has less to do with race and more to do with fighting for control over IT wages. PCG members want to keep their wages as high as possible. However, hiring companies want to drive costs down and the easiest way to do this is by bringing in cheap labour. silicon.com saw signs of this when we received an internal memo from BA last year. IT professionals there were having to train up their replacements before they cleared their own desks. If this practice is widespread it will tarnish the UK government's immigration policy and hopefully it will be forced to police fast track visa abuses. However, the government will do nothing if the miscreants are still unnamed. The PCG will have to name names to make its complaint credible. Related content:
PCG tackles Fast Track Visa scheme abuses
http://www.silicon.com/a51336
BA business logic under scrutiny
http://www.silicon.com/a45589