The Town Taking on China

[Josquius]

I can't claim that The Town Taking on China (BBC Two) is the most exciting TV show of recent times. But in its low-key, slightly dull way, it does illuminate quite a lot about the way the modern world works.

Not that last night's opening episode ever thought of itself as low-key. On the contrary. "This is the story of one small town in the north of England," began the narrator, "and its attempt to take on the economic might of one of the fastest-growing nations in the world!" The way the programme told it, the stakes couldn't be higher either – with nothing less than the future of Britain hanging in the balance. If the small town wins, "jobs could come back to Britain for good, and the British manufacturing lion roar once more!"

What this means in practice is that a bloke called Tony Caldeira owns a cushion factory in Kirkby, Merseyside, and another on the east coast of China, but is thinking of consolidating the business in Kirkby.

The reason behind Caldeira's plan was surprising – to me, anyway. It turns out that Chinese workers are no longer the pushover they once were. With more jobs available than people to do them, they're beginning to realise – like their Western counterparts a century or so ago – that being in such demand gives them power. In one scene, a woman at Caldeira's Chinese factory threatened to go elsewhere unless she got a 50 per cent pay rise. In another, prospective employees visited the place to see if it met their requirements. They looked for all the world like parents being shown round a private school, with Caldeira as the headmaster, keen to impress.

Back in Kirkby, the situation was rather different. There, with 14 people for every vacancy, Caldeira was confident of finding employees who weren't so picky. True to the Government's urging, he also wanted to give local youths a chance. Before long, he'd hired 17 new workers of varying levels of enthusiasm (or as the programme preferred to call them, "troops in the battle against China's global dominance!"). Now he just had to prove that they could make cushions better, faster and cheaper than the Chinese, and British manufacturing would apparently be saved. Meanwhile, playing Sergeant Wilson to Caldeira's Captain Mainwaring was his right-hand man Malcolm Smith, who clearly didn't think these gung-ho tactics were wise.
Sad to say, by the end of yesterday's episode Smith seemed to be on to something. Within three weeks, four of the 17 had left, most by the trusty method of just not showing up any more. At which point, you might expect a lament about British laziness – except that the slackers in question had generally gone on to jobs (in call centres, for instance) that pay far higher wages for less work. There was no reason to disbelieve Caldeira's claim that he couldn't afford more than the minimum wage if his British factory was to compete with China. Yet in the circumstances, it was hard to blame the people who had quit. After all, what would you do?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9253156/The-Town-Taking-on-China-BBC-Two-review.html


I'm knackered today after getting hopelessly lost twice on my bike. I had plans but instead am just lying on the sofa. Having nothing much to watch, not feeling like attempting anything in foreign, I decided to see if iplayer was being reliable today. On a whim I clicked on this show, thinking it'd be in the background whilst I read or somesuch.

It turns out though...it was a really interesting programme. The observation I have made myself about rising Chinese wages threatening China's rise was well presented, also present however was the surprising way Chinese workers shop around factories to find which one they want to work at.
This...is very surprising to me. Totally the opposite of how employment usually works.
Really makes me think on the situation in China. Are companies going there as its the thing to do? That there would be more jobs than workers...wow.

Also led to some thinking about the state of things in Britain. What came to my mind is that rather than the minimum wage being too low (gotta encourage employers to hire people and all that) its basic living costs that are too high. I wonder if there would be any way to force down the price of food....but then an issue I see elsewhere is that food is too cheap and farmers are being hurt by such low prices. Seems the problem is somewhere in the middle.

Anyway. Enough rambling.

I suggest people watch it.
Though beware of the Scouse accents.