Unions protest because contractors are using foreign workers at power station.

hethmar

It does make you wonder doesnt it, if all the brits are so shiftless, workshy and lazy, how the hell did they make this country so great that people all over the world fight to get here.

Migrants were needed in the 50s because so many of our men had died protecting half the population of the world . Lazy sods, did anything to get out of working didnt they.

dervish

hethmar wrote: »

It does make you wonder doesnt it, if all the brits are so shiftless, workshy and lazy, how the hell did they make this country so great that people all over the world fight to get here.

Well said

If it wasnt for Britain then the immigrants who want to come here probably wouldnt even be able to read and write as the Empire brought education to their (admittedly) backwards countrys.

hethmar

Do you realise that if we, the Brits, said all the disaparaging things the immigrants on here had said about us concerning their countrymen, we would be called racists - why doesnt it work both ways?

dervish

hethmar wrote: »

Do you realise that if we, the Brits, said all the disaparaging things the immigrants on here had said about us concerning their countrymen, we would be called racists - why doesnt it work both ways?

We are fair game for everyone. and yet we as a country have done more tfor the world than anyone else... how soon they forget

But if you DARE say anything about a foreigner....! :mad:

mymatebob

dervish wrote: »

We are fair game for everyone. and yet we as a country have done more tfor the world than anyone else... how soon they forget

But if you DARE say anything about a foreigner....! :mad:

Of course we have!

Any chance you can let me know where to buy those blinkers?

torontoboy45

dinoyoung wrote: »

I think you've mixed up Capitalism with Supply and Demand.

I would argue that we live in a Mixed Economy world not a Capitalist one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_economy

At times of a credit crunch do you believe it's better for standard of living for the country to (a)have poorer migrant come here to work for £8 an hour sending a majority of his or her income abroad or (b)have a richer migrant do the same job for £10 an hour (or doesn't work) but also spend lots of money in the country (say Abramovic)?

Your rather simplistic view that open borders and everyone undercutting each other is the ideal will unfortunately not lead a country toward an improved standard of living. All and sundry from poorer countries would enter the country until it becomes a giant sweatshop.

If you look around the world, it is the countries which have lot of wealth (e.g. tax havens where individuals own companies/land/resource rather than work in them) which enjoy the best standard of living.

It may not be fair, but that does not stop it being true...

I'd be more inclined to agree if you hadn't used used wikipedia as your reference point.

mower5

Cleaver wrote: »

Eh? Prejudices against working people? Where?

I'll just add that I work. And I'm also a person.

Apologies Cleaver, i was wound up by the term "Monobrow" i have strong moral & ethical concern over use of this word to describe anyone not a member of Oasis

sadsadjenjen

Dear All
I might not be as clever as some of you think you all are. If so you would have noted that I used the term Migrants. Migrants are people that move around to work, Sometimes they stay sometimes they move on to different countries. They are however not to become victims.
If all our industries had not been sold to the highest bidder (foreign) maybe the incentive to keeps jobs on British soil during the recession would be greater. What we are seeing is the owners of our industries moving or awarding contracts back to their countries of origin.
I challenge anyone to show me a UK owed company of merit.
that is a more worthy discussion, because as soon as this recession is over we should ensure that some industries are owned by people who are British, color, race, creed not important as long as their loyalties lye with this country.

hethmar

I think one of the fundamentals we are missing is that because we made the country so great and prosperous it allowed our home grown workforce to be more demanding - to want to "live" rather than just exist.

The "work ethic" we keep having rammed down our throats about Polish and other workers is due basically to the fact that their much less prosperous countries has meant they have had to continue to work like dogs just to survive. This doesnt mean other nationalities are better workers than Brits, it means that they have not yet reached the dizzying heights of being a country everyone wants to come to because life is so much easier due to the hard work of previous generations.

worldwheeler

mewbie wrote: »

When there is too much labour for the positions available then prices (wages) will fall. When there is not enough then prices (wages) will rise. This is so simple to understand. It is called capitalism.

The EU continuing expansion together with the EU directives that over ride any national law have ensured that the labour market will remain larger than the job market. Thus people will be conditioned into working harder, longer in circumstances that are dictated to them by corporations and governments.

The Italian workers are getting the same rate as local workers? Are they getting free accommodation on their barge or is this taken straight from their wages?! Servants get low wage but are housed. Slaves get no pay but are housed and fed.