British jobs for British workers
18-March-2010
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British jobs for British workers

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I must admit to not having paid too much attention to the news in the last week or so.  Having been job hunting myself for quite a while now, I've kind of had other things on my mind and not really had the time.  However, I had a few moments too check the headlines this morning and what I read there put me off my breakfast.  As a British worker, even though I don't work in this particular industry, I was left feeling more than a little betrayed.

In case you have also missed the news...  Hundreds of workers across the country, mainly at oil refineries and power plants, have been protesting about the use of foreign workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire.  Total, the French oil giant who owns the plant has awarded a £200 milion contract to Italian firm IREM to construct the new HDS-3 unit at the site.

Construction workers

Insentives for employers to choose British workers...

Well quite frankly, employing foreign workers when there are suitable british workers out there doesn't sit well with me even when the economy is booming, but we're in a recession now and I think that fact alone makes all the difference.  Perhaps it's far too easy for companies in the UK to hire a foreign workforce and there should be insentives for employers to choose British workers intead.  Make it so that employing the native workforce is the path of least resistance?  There again, Total isn't exactly a patriotic British company so why should we expect any loyalty there?

I don't think that it would be right to force companies to employ British workers and there are some cases when foreign specialist skills are needed.  Come to think of it, there are few people out there that would say British workers are lazy, they're not as good and they cost more than foreign workers.  Okay, some of that might be true, but for every slacker out there there are probably hundreds or even thousands of perfectly willing and competent workers waiting to fill his shoes.  The foreign workers we see here aren't the dead wood.  They're the ones that go the extra mile and work hard.  We have people like that here too and I think that they should be given a chance.

I suspect there's no right or wrong answer in all of this, there's just a feeling of great injustice where British men and women don't have jobs where perhaps they should.  I'm also pretty sure that our bumbling fool of a prime minister isn't going to do anything to help in any way whatsoever.  They can hold urgent talks with industry leaders and be as optimistic as they like, but it's just too little too late.

So if you're out there on the picket lines this week, you have my full support in all this.  Oh and another thing, I for one, will not be stopping to refuel my car at any Total petrol stations on my way to the Jobcentre!  It's a small thing I know, but if enough people did small things maybe big companies and governments would pay attention.

By: Paul D.


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Put British workers first?

Total recently awarded a lucrative contract to an Italian workforce. Should the jobs have gone to British workers instead and should companies be made to employ British workers where possible before resorting to hiring foreign labour?


 Yes, British jobs first
 No, that's a bad idea


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my comment posted on here yesterday has been removed, anything that gets too close to whats really going on seems to be deleted.
*bigbrotherhasyou_punk  17-Mar-2010 21:30

 
There are too many immigrant scroungers in the UK and they are the ones you should be directing your anger at, for they are parasitic scum who abide by no laws and are protected by the PC brigade.

When some of you fat idle uneducated English (and it is mostly English rather than Welsh, Scots, or Irish) get off your lardy backsides and try to educate yourselves in both the academic sense and in how to work properly, then there is a solution in sight. Until that happens, the East Europeans and the Indians in particular, who work more productively, speak better English, and have better manners, will continue to be preferred by employers.

You are the problem and you hold the key to solving it.
*MikeP  09-Mar-2010 13:01

 
Cheap immigrant labour is being imported to undermine the resident work force, it's simple economics people. If we continue to tolerate this we will all be working for minimum wage. I am a printer and used to earn between 30 - 40k a year. My last job was running print finishing machines and paid 16k a year, It was a horrible place to work as their was only five english guys on the shop floor, the other 30 people where African and eastern European. Most of whom could not speak English let alone read it! (a serious short fall in printing) But the managment where convinced this was the way forward, a cheap work force looks good on the books but due to mistake after mistake the company lost to many contracts and went bust!
Our pathetic country is over run with immigrants (far more than we are being told). Under the freedom of information act paper work has come to light exposing labours plan to flood the country with cheap labour since day one. And to brand anyone who voiced a concern a racist. I have had enough! The welcome mat has been withdrawn! I cannot find a decent job! GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY! I will be voting BNP as they are the only party willing to stop this farce;
*Aleedsfella  09-Mar-2010 11:30

 
Soon the unemployed British will be the cheapest labour on the market. The Governemnt together with the Salvation Army will start soup kitchen to keep the cost of their sustenance down. Everyone will move to a "spike" - a workhouse.

Read George Orwell's

http://orwell.ru/library/novels/Down_and_Out_in_Paris_and_London/english/e_dopl

and

Jack London's People of the Abyss

http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/PeopleOfTheAbyss/
*The Clock Has Wound Back 100 Years  11-Nov-2009 22:30

 
Seeitcoming,
You are absolutely right. This state of affairs is everywhere and proper staff are being seen off simply for the reason of economics. Thing is, the job doesn't get done properly. The kindest thing I have to say about feckless wreck suggesting I'm a Nazi is that he or she is naive. Don't worry though feckless, I will not trouble these pages again (jackboots are still shiny though)
*Howsoonisnow?  11-Nov-2009 14:13

 
I have seen plumbers and electricians on £18 an hour paid off and other un trained staff put in their place the next day on £9.00 an hour, a pretty botch job but the managers were happy with the staff doing the job and saving them money for extra bonus at the end of the contract.
A lot of companies are using only agencies now so that they can hire and fire here and there on a few days work....then the other staff, no matter how much you look after them and carry them will backstab you and mess up your daily tasks to get you paid off, its more overtime for them ££ £ £...If you look at the jobs advertised now, you will see plumber, welder,pipe fitter jobs and electricians jobs being advertised on £10 an hour, which was a mates rate (labourer rate) 18 months ago..
*seeitcoming  10-Nov-2009 01:04

 
Dear Feckless,
My red, white and black armband fits very well and the boots are polished to the highest shine imaginable. Must get the uniform dry cleaned though as it's had a few nights at the bierkellar. Lotsa love from Bavaria...
*Howsoonisnow?  09-Nov-2009 20:59

 
You feckless twat. Minimum wage was designed for foreigners, for immigrants. The real citizens of this country know that they cannot live and raise a family on a minimum wage. The minimum wage is lower that the wages in Victorian times.
*Sauce for the Gander  09-Nov-2009 16:40

 
This was such utter crap..
and to anyone who said it: foreigners are NOT cheaper. You still have to pay them a normal minimum wage, you pillocks!
I can't believe how many Nazis there are in this country!
*feckless wreck  09-Nov-2009 16:00

 
Employers are keen on hiring foreigners for one reason: They're cheaper. The problem is though, that they often can't do the job properly nor can they speak english very well (If I moved to France I would learn to speak french as I'd be b********d if I didn't).
I've lost count of the amount of times I've taken over a call from someone who simply cannot understand the person who initially answered and was angry and frustrated.
Don't dare say anything though, because if you do you are 'racist' or 'not respecting their culture'.
Then there's the workers who disappear to prayer rooms on the hour.
*Howsoonisnow?  02-Nov-2009 15:27

 
The way I see it ,if your child needed a pair of shoes you wouldn't tell him sorry but I have to buy next door kids some instead , charity begins at home and if we bought more british grown and British made stuff we would not be in this mess .
*Gix  28-Oct-2009 18:41

 
Chuck all migrant workers out of the country, even if they have kids! British jobs for British workers. Not bloody Italian riff-raff or f**king Poles! Deport the lot of 'em & blow that bloody Channel Tunnel up as well. That was a typical retarded Tory idea!
*kiwi  20-Sep-2009 15:16


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