550 jobs to go in Horsham drugs company plan

[adrian29uk]

550 jobs to go in Horsham drugs company plan From The Argus)

Another blow. Where are all these people going to find jobs. Don't know what radio station I heard it on, but apparently unemployment is the highest it has been for 17 years.

 

[Goring Gull]

It certainley is teh highest t's been for 17 years saw it on News 24 yesterday. Tough times ahead for at least two more years - one good thing though if you keep your job the house prices are coming down.

 

[bhaexpress]

I worked for them years ago when they were still CIBA. Have to say they were just about the most wasteful employer I've worked for until I worked for RBS. Can't say this comes as much of a surprise. It doesn't matter which party is in power, they all go on about getting people back to work. Very noble sentiments but the jobs need to be there to start with.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

A post on the Argus website says that the job losses at Novartis are probably closer to 1,000 as they haven't mentioned in the announcement the agency staff and contractors will also lose their jobs.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

Ever since I was born the people running this country's economic policy have decided that devaluing the currency is a pain-free alternative to behaving as Germany has done, which is working harder, faster, longer or just more efficiently and making things that people want. It's the national equivalent of Waynetta going down the social rather than getting a job. It is the prospect of not being able to follow this chavvy approach in future that makes politicians of left and right as well as newspapers such as the Mail and Mr Murdoch's furious about the idea of joining the Euro.

The result is that our currency has slid and slid against others with the obvious result that half of British industry is now foreign-owned. When foreign-owned companies are in trouble they are more likely to shut their overseas plants than those in their home country. Novartis is Swiss-owned I think, so shutting UK labs and factories is not too much of a problem to them.

Europhobic politicians such as Hague and his chums at the Mail claim to be the last great patriots. They are the opposite. Others too are to blame for the mess we are in but the way the Tory right (and plenty of the Labour left) pretend to wrap themselves in the flag actually makes me want to vomit.

Phew, that's better.

 

[Goring Gull]

I worked for them years ago when they were still CIBA. Have to say they were just about the most wasteful employer I've worked for until I worked for RBS. Can't say this comes as much of a surprise. It doesn't matter which party is in power, they all go on about getting people back to work. Very noble sentiments but the jobs need to be there to start with.

I don't think i've worked for a company that isn't wasteful, I just look at the people and wages they pay here in the part of the company i work for and i really can't work out what people really do all day - must work at about 50% capacity and some of the wages are astronomical for the job roles - we have CSR's in the claims department on £27k a year for a call centre job FFS!!!! A whole floor which i'm on of middle managers none on less than at least £35k - Do i think i'm worth what i'm paid? In terms of effort, probably not and i could say the same for most of the floor. Thing is it's not the only company like it in the country.

Things is company keeps increasing profits so no one notices but eventually the time will come.

 

[bhaexpress]

I don't think i've worked for a company that isn't wasteful, I just look at the people and wages they pay here in the part of the company i work for and i really can't work out what people really do all day - must work at about 50% capacity and some of the wages are astronomical for the job roles - we have CSR's in the claims department on £27k a year for a call centre job FFS!!!! A whole floor which i'm on of middle managers none on less than at least £35k - Do i think i'm worth what i'm paid? In terms of effort, probably not and i could say the same for most of the floor. Thing is it's not the only company like it in the country.

Things is company keeps increasing profits so no one notices but eventually the time will come.

Thanks to the work I do I have worked in most industries. I used to think that oil companies and pharmaceutical companies were the biggest wasters until I worked for RBS. However I've worked to various Civil Service departments too and a tragic number of people there don't seem to have any idea about costs given that they see the tax payer being able to pick up the tab. The wastage I have seen there just goes on and, that's not counting the employees who get paid to do a job that serves no purpose.

 

[Goring Gull]

RBS, a whole other matter............

 

[Tubby Mondays]

We are all in this together and difficult decisions have to be made.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The 'patent box' tax reform is supposed to encourage firms to work here..not shed their jobs. In fact GSK invested half a billion upon the incentive. Since then Pfizer and now Novartis have announced huge cuts in the workforce.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Where are all these people going to find jobs.

On the Pharma R&D side of things there seems to be a buoyant job market in Germany and Switzerland.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

We are all in this together

Are we?

 

[bhaexpress]

The 'patent box' tax reform is supposed to encourage firms to work here..not shed their jobs. In fact GSK invested half a billion upon the incentive. Since then Pfizer and now Novartis have announced huge cuts in the workforce.

They've been in Horsham for many years in fairness. I think their main problem is that they haven't come up with a decent drug for a while. Part of the problem is that Horsham has built up around their site but it would need a lot of money to be spent to modernise it. It could be that they want to sell the considerable area of land for development.

 

[bhaexpress]

We are all in this together and difficult decisions have to be made.

Which particular 'we' are you referring to ?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

They've been in Horsham for many years in fairness. I think their main problem is that they haven't come up with a decent drug for a while. Part of the problem is that Horsham has built up around their site but it would need a lot of money to be spent to modernise it. It could be that they want to sell the considerable area of land for development.

I must admit I'm not totally clued up on their pipeline but the UK is, tax wise, an advantageous place to develop new drugs. You obviously need to get them out into the market to benefit from the tax breaks but I would have thought that it would make sense to shift any development work to the UK.

About a decade ago Canada had a tax break on R&D....and this stimulated their scientific sector. Shame this 'patent box' is not doing the same...GSK aside.

This also comes off the back of the government stating they want to create more jobs like these which are to be lost in Sandwich and Horsham (I'm not trying for political points here so I hope no one comes back with some crap about the Labour Party).

 

[Tubby Mondays]

Which particular 'we' are you referring to ?

I have absolutely no idea. Ask David Cameron, who also said 'we cant go on like this', presumably referring to record employment and low unemployment. So at least he stuck to his word there.

 

[Uncle C]

In my experience one of the biggest waster of money, in all sectors, is the private use of the Internet during hours you are being paid to work.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I know one of the 550. She's on notice her job is up for review. It could take months for her post to disappear though, depending upon the stage of the drug development project she's working on. With plenty of notice and decent redundancy she has a chance to rethink and retrain.

In the bigger picture there just isn't the Big Plan. Osbourne's Budget next week must lay the ground for small business growth. There are a huge number of people who will be unemployed who we need to start businesses and employ other people. They need tax breaks and incentives.

 

[Pot noodles for everyone]

We are all in this together and difficult decisions have to be made.

Ah diddums. Did the grown ups finally wake up to the fact that you can't keep spunking money they haven't got? Never mind, eh. You and I both know the Tories will be here for years and years to come so please feel free to shake your fist at those nasty people who always end up paying for the big lefty piss-ups. Thankfully, like you, it's irrelevant.

xx

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Osbourne's Budget next week must lay the ground for small business growth. There are a huge number of people who will be unemployed who we need to start businesses and employ other people. They need tax breaks and incentives.

Let's see what happens. We need to move away from an economy based on selling and re-selling crappy financial products and make stuff, and trade stuff. Audi just had their best ever year apparently. They're currently churning out 2500 cars a day, 6 days a week. Makes you wonder. But as usual we'll do f*** all, at best some short term fix, or some vague idea that simply 'rolling back the state' will free up businesses to do business, or as Thomas Mayer suggested, the British just go for a gin and tonic.