Are There More Low Wage Call Centre Jobs For Windsor

A real Christmas present for Windsor or coal in a stocking, again from the Mayor?  Hope for the 20,000 unemployed here or a Bah Humbug moment to make people forget the  huge  amount to be  wasted  on an  Aquatic  Centre?  Gord has still not given it his seal of approval in his column so it  may be really, really bad.

Now we are going to be a world-class financial centre are we? Apparently, according to mini-Gord, we are involved in a job fishing expedition for some anonymous company that Edgar (aka Eddie) has been dealing with for the last eight months or has it been a year. I hope it is not another Landstar-type deal where Edgar did not have a clue with whom he was dealing for so many months and yet wanted to spend millions for what.

I’m so glad to see that the Mayor’s office is now a shill for some company such that they have to place ads for them. Are taxpayers to pay for those ads as well? Mind you, Edgar tried to flog Monopoly games so why not financial jobs also.

Haven’t we heard this song and dance story before:

NOW

“The operation is much larger than a retail financial services office, Francis said. Asked if the proposed project would have as large an impact as an automotive plant, he said the number of jobs that could be relocated or created here was “significant.” The economic impact on the city, he said, would be “massive.”

Most of the positions listed on the website require university degrees, but some list only high school or equivalent as qualifications for the positions…

A team of people working out of the mayor’s office has been meeting nights and weekends to meet long lists of requirements, demands and conditions the company has set down by dangling the promise of new jobs being created in Windsor.

“This is the last step, the determining step, the most important step,” Francis said of the process. “A lot of things have been satisfied. Now we need to demonstrate we can fill these positions with the skill set (they) require.”

Among the conditions already satisfied is a location, the mayor said. “We’ve satisfied that question. That was a very important question.” asked where it go, he said “no comment.” (Chris Vander Doelen Windsor Star December 17, 2011)

I’ll bet it was the same “team” working on getting people jobs out west for the week for our best and brightest and having them come home on week-ends. Whatever happened to that initiative to get jobs for citizens by the way.

THEN

–”Mayor Eddie Francis said he knows for a fact that other IT companies will follow this industry pattern setter to Windsor. “We just catapulted ahead of any other jurisdiction trying to enter the knowledge-based economy,” said Francis. He explained that the millions of dollars in provincial training funds steered this way by Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello and the new St. Clair College programs in partnership with Sutherland will help build a base of computer-literate people that will make Windsor more attractive to investors.”  (Gord Henderson Windsor Star 11-04-2006)

–”A source close to the negotiations says Mayor Eddie Francis, with help from Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello, pulled off a “Hail Mary” in persuading a big-league information technology firm to locate 1,000 jobs in Windsor instead of Mexico…

 The firm, whose customer base is dominated by Fortune 500 companies, including Hewlett-Packard, specializes in business process outsourcing. It provides customer management operations for major firms in sectors that include banking, financial services, retail, information technology and communications…

The source said people are mistaken if they assume this is just another minimum wage call centre involving “those people who call you at 6 p.m. while you’re having dinner to try to sell you merchandise.”

He said the operation will involve starting wages in the $12 to $15 range and those hired will require extensive training so they know “the ins-and-outs of every item manufactured” and can offer immediate assistance when a client’s customers call…

What’s exciting about this, said the source, is that the thousand jobs could be the proverbial tip of the iceberg. If all goes well here and certain contracts are landed, the workforce could explode. He likened it to the modest beginnings of the car industry in Windsor.” (Gord Henderson Windsor Star 10-24-2006)

Before we were going to become the leaders in knowledge-based industries but in reality we got call centre jobs. Now it is something bigger than retail financial operations although it sure smells like another call centre to me.

Fortunately, I’m not a gambling man but if I was, I would bet on something involving Sutherland again. Take a look at their website and see that they are involved in financial services business:

More importantly, don’t you find it odd that there have been so many Sutherland billboards around the City. The Star also reported:

“a Sutherland official who asked not to be identified pointed to an ongoing heavy volume of advertising as part of an effort to expand its workforce in the Windsor area.” (Doug Schmidt And Brian Cross Windsor Star October 19, 2011)

I must admit that I do not remember that amount of advertising when they first came to Windsor. It just seems so coincidental.

Also what seems interesting is the time period, 8 months. Why back in March, the Pizza Queen wrote in a column:

” A 50-metre pool is a given. Windsor needs it; we should build it. The intriguing part of the latest Big Idea for downtown’s western anchor is a new library attached to the pool.” (Anne Jarvis Windsor Star 03-09-2011)

Why it would not surprise me at all if Sutherland was talking with the City around that time to move into the Main branch. After all, mini-Gord told us:

“Among the conditions already satisfied is a location, the mayor said. “We’ve satisfied that question. That was a very important question.” asked where it go, he said “no comment.”

On the other hand, it is just too obvious, too easy to jump to that conclusion.

Obviously, I looked up the web address http://www.windsorwork.ca/financialservices/ Mini-Gord must have seen it a long time before because he said that there was:

“even a video showing off regional beauty spots and amenities in Windsor and Essex County.”

It was not there when I went to the website.

It was recently opened:

Domain name: windsorwork.ca
Creation date: 2011/12/08

I saw this about the secret and anonymous potential employer for Windsor:

“About the Organization
A premier financial institution that provides a wide range of financial products and services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net worth individuals.”

Remarkable language because I saw this also from Goldman Sachs:

“The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively, “Goldman Sachs”), is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.”

Do you think that this huge organization wants a Windsor base? That would be exciting. Or is it plagiarism that Goldman Sachs should know about. Oh I hope the City did not create the ad too. That could be really embarrassing

I tried to find out who owns the website mentioned and pinged it receiving this information:

Ping http://www.windsorwork.ca/financialservices/listing.htm (66.6.63.32) …
1 failed

I searched on 66.6.63.32 and one of the companies hosted there at one time was:

“Gbcorp – www.Gbcorp.net

Gbcorp Title:
GenevaBancorp – gbcorp.net
Gbcorp IP:
66.6.63.32
Gbcorp server location:
Ottawa in Canada
Gbcorp ISP:
MOMENTOUS”

Could this be the new investor in Windsor? The windsorwork.ca search showed:

IP Address : 66.6.63.32
IP Location : Ottawa in Canada
ISP : MOMENTOUS

I’ll let you, dear reader, find out what you can about GenevaBancorp. As for me, I’ll just wait to see what the next Edgar disappointment is.

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