wakey..wakey UK

[bushcraft]

My buds missus runs a B&B & over the last few weeks it full of German workers, all the vans are parked up 'Lidl' stires it seems

They are expanding , the German shopfitters have travelled over,& are sorting all the shelves etc..& shop fixings
A few weeks before a Polish family took the lease on 2 shops down the road.......All the Polish workers came , did the same thing..knocked 2 shops into one ......& fitted the place out !!

Good busness for the B&B short term ........

But......If they can come 2000miles to kit a buds shop out , or 1000miles + in the cae of the german company, it says they have no intrest in fueling our ecconomy, or keeping us in work, how do they expect us to use the facilities they provide .......as they pay 'their workers' & shops are in Uk currency , so all the money goes out of the ecconomy.....back to there home land.

They blatently use us , & we do nothing about it......are we blind ?? Im sure we enjoy subsidising these people & paying high taxes...we're going to be bancrupt...wakey wakey UK.

British jobs , are for us !!! Unless you want to see even more taxes...& Mr Brown wake up buddy

[waveydavey]

Too late: Gordon can wake if he wants but all he will find is that he and his friends (Especially Mandelson) have signed off so much to Europe that they can do is watch.

[Chris Putt]

Its the law of supply and demand. If we want cheap goods- chances are they will have to come from abroad as out labour rates are high- so these kind of shops will thrive, and it will only continue to get worse as disposable income continues to fall.

If you want it otherwise buy produce only from local shops- that only stock local produce.

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

What is wrong with immigration? Its already been mentioned that prices are so high in this country that people will use the cheapest solution.

Perhaps these companies, such as Total Oil, should look in the UK first for staff, but if they have already got trained staff ready to go, can you blame them? Would you really want untrained staff at an oil refinery?

The UK has always made use of immigrant workforces in all aspects of life. History shows us that. There were French and Spanish sailors fighting in the Royal Navy at Trafalgar, Commonwealth troops in World War One and Two, as well as Gurkhas (not Empire as such, but a former enemy who impressed the Brit generals).
Eastern European personnel flew in the Battle of Britain, fought on the beaches at D-Day, and hunted U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic.

All those who say "I'm off to Australia/ New Zealand/ Canada to get away from all this", themselves become immigrants to their host countries. I wonder what it feels like for the boot to be on the other foot, especially as those contries have tougher rules than we do.

Before I get slated, my thoughts on immigration are that we should pull out of Europe, thus get back tighter border controls which would allow us to vet people in the same way that most other countries do, to stop abuses of the system.
Converseley, we have our own supply of idle scroungers who have no intention of looking for gainful employment, who could be utilsed.

I'm now getting my flak jacket on...........

[beast5680]

you forgot to mention lsp that britain is one of the biggest exporters of labour round the world as well
the company i work for has just taken on a lithuanian (who managed to fly from his hometown to kent for a 3hour interview and back in the same day) as we had adverts out for over 6 months and no replies and he was the only one who replied who was qualified :-k there are plenty of jobs for british worker but if no one applies for the job what are you supposed to do?

[Yoshi]

The other point about the italian problem here is that we dont know how much they are paying their workers. 

They put in a certain price for the job and as such they have to take into account the cost of labour.  Now i dont know how much they are paying their workforce but it must be alot less than our people would take otherwise they would have used british workforce.

Now this is the thing, the british workforce in the building trades dont want to work for a lower wage, they want the wage they have been getting or they wont do anything at all (i dont mean all obviously as there are exceptions to the rule).

If we wanted british workers then Total should have chosen a british company to do the work.

[V8MoneyPit]

All true, and well put I might add.

I can't help thinking that the 'local' workers would not do the job for the same wages as the imported labour. If we impose restrictions on imported labour so that companies are forced to pay higher wage bills, the country becomes even less competitive in the international market and our economy plummets even further into the murky depths.

I fully appreciate that finding a balance is not easy and, much as I don't like our current government, I don't envy them their task. The only thing I would say is that a blanket ban on imported labour would be commercial and economic suicide in the current climate.

[Chris Putt]

As I said above, its market forces, and until people accept that there are jobs that are minimum wage and just get on with them OF COURSE the will get filled by those who cant earn that amount elsewhere. In one respect I think it is excellent because it enhances cultural diversity, but I object to my taxes paying for people who simply do not want to work to sit on their arses all day.

It does quite annoy me the fact that my Girlfriend, despite being very intelligent, having a degree and being a skilled climbing instructor cannot find a job on the south coast doing ANYTHING, let alone being able to get a job in the outdoor industry.

Chris

[Hightower]

The problem is that it's too easy for UK workers to just turn down lower paid jobs and still get money from the dole, benefits etc.  The attitude is why work when I can get the same doing nothing?  It laziness and greed, nothing else.

The sooner they reform the welfare system to stop this happening the better in my opinion.

[Bishops Finger]

Shoot doleys IMHO...

[Yoshi]

Shoot doleys IMHO...

Again thats a big generalization, i know 2 members of this forum who are unemployed and claiming, and they are both actively looking for work.  This is the other problem, there isnt any basic jobs out there, i have looked myself, you cant even get a job stacking shelves at the moment!

[Disco Matt]

A major problem seems to be the reluctance of companies to take on staff without experience. Certainly in this area they are very choosy and "no experience" is the standard brush-off. Does it really matter, so long as you can learn quickly and have the sense to ask for help if baffled?

Quite how you are supposed to get experience if nobody will take you on is beyond me. I'm volunteering at the moment in an effort to solve that one!

[Bishops Finger]

Shoot doleys IMHO...

Again thats a big generalization, i know 2 members of this forum who are unemployed and claiming, and they are both actively looking for work.  This is the other problem, there isnt any basic jobs out there, i have looked myself, you cant even get a job stacking shelves at the moment!

They don't spend years turning down work and just claiming benefit tho...

[V8MoneyPit]

A major problem seems to be the reluctance of companies to take on staff without experience. Certainly in this area they are very choosy and "no experience" is the standard brush-off. Does it really matter, so long as you can learn quickly and have the sense to ask for help if baffled?

Quite how you are supposed to get experience if nobody will take you on is beyond me. I'm volunteering at the moment in an effort to solve that one!

Whereas in healthier times a company would gain by employing a 'trainee' with a view to long term employment, it is safer to get staff with relevant experience in a poor economic climate because they can produce results quicker. And if you need to downsize, you haven't 'wasted' money on much training when you have to make them redundant. A sad state of affairs, but sensible at the moment.