Destruction of the Building Industry

tesuhoha

Thatcher destroyed the manufacturing industry in this country and now this government have all but destroyed the building industry. There are a lot of construction workers now in the dole queue because there is no work for them. That goes for all trades. The only people who are working are the contractors that are undercutting everyone else and they are only employing the cream of the industry at present on very low wages.

Well, some of you will no doubt say, that's good isn't it? About time their wages went down. I don't know, is it so good? What about all the people who are unemployed who are on training courses for the construction industry? I think the government has omitted to tell them that there are no jobs. What about the newly redundant business people who have paid thousands of pounds to train as electricians, plumbers etc thinking that they will have a good living at the end of it all. They are wasting their money, there is no money in it any more. What about the non-academic school kids who leave school each year and say I want to be a brickie, a sparks, a plumber. There is nothing for them. They will swell the dole queues, cause trouble because they have no work. Its already bad and its going to get worse. This country has nothing to offer its workers any more, the real jobs are becoming less and less. Factories are closing down.

Once the housing market picks up it will not get better because then we will have an influx of immigrant workers who will come in and undercut the British workers, which is what has been happening. Again you may say that this is a good thing but many of them are unskilled with forged documents and they find it a lot easier to disappear into the sunset with your hard earned cash than a British worker who has to have documentation etc, CSCS card, Gas Safety etc, etc.

Also tradespeople can't make it on their own now as there is so much competition from others who are unemployed. Its gone the same way as the manufacturing industry. Years ago people used to mock the unions and hate them but now they have forgotten all that and complain about the lack of a manufacturing industry in this country and the lack of jobs. It has now got even worse. You may not have liked the housing boom but the employment of a lot of people rested on it.

CLAPTON

Except for one person, everyone knows that there is boom and bust... the economy goes in cycles... maybe one day we will be able to control it but that's for the future.

Although change is often painful, if there was no change we would all be hunter gathers

Thatcher didn't destroy manufacturing industry... a combination of rubbish products (compared to those available from Japan / Germany etc ) and the high value of the pound due to North Sea Oil and Gas was responsible.... basically British people didn't buy British product (did you?)

Hopefully a further massive devaluation of the pound, making foreign imports more expensive may lead to a new manufacturing industry here.

mizzbiz

Are they also responsible for the destruction of the Irish and Spanish construction industry?
Bloody Labour!

geoffky

The above post is just exactly how it was when i left school in 1980..out of 260 leaving just eight of us had a job to go to....

Rochdale_Pioneers

mizzbiz wrote: »

Are they also responsible for the destruction of the Irish and Spanish construction industry?
Bloody Labour!

Surely you know that there is no global recession, and events elsewhere have absolutely no link whatsoever with what is happening here. Banks and countries going bust are completely unrelated to any bank problems here - its just a coincidence.

Anyway back in the real world, we should be building houses. How about the state contracting the building companies to build actual family houses not inner city BTL hellhole apartments. Hand the keys over to councils and Housing Associations and shock horror we not only keep the industry alive but we provide people somewhere to live and get working on the shortage of housing.

Radsteral

the whole system its at fault here.
I remember always when things went a bit slow were the government would try and make people to spend at any way... like they did last year ''trying to kickstart the shopping bussiness''
i remember 1 minister on tv said we ll cat the v.a.t so people would have more chance to spend.
stupid ! when every one saying that its gonna get worse, the government , instead of advising people to be careful, its making way for them to throw even the last peny on new clothes and houseware.
And that, knowing that the british got more credit cards on their pockets than the rest of europe together.

leveller2911

In my area in the last 2 weeks 5 joineries have gone into liquidation, all did good quality work and all had work on their books, some booked up for months ahead.The banks pulled the plug on financing ,over drafts etc.
At a time when small business needs a helping hand what does this government do ??? PUT business rates up, !!!!!! it would be funny if it wasn't so perverse.I can just hear one or two posters saying its local authorities that collect business rates and they are right, but they do it on behalf of the government.
This government and the previous tory government in the 90,s didnt give a f*ck for small business.
No they are not directly resposible for the problems in Spain ,Ireland and the rest of Europe but they are resposible for the way they are slaughtering small businesses here.

Just for the record as some may not know.For paying business rates the small business receives NOTHING, no services at all, not even their rubbish removed..

SingleSue

geoffky wrote: »

The above post is just exactly how it was when i left school in 1980..out of 260 leaving just eight of us had a job to go to....

They solved that by 1986, they were shoving us all onto YTS schemes...I was a renegade and refused to go on one and instead worked in an amusement arcade for £13 a week more (quite a sizeable amount then really!)

I was always of an independent mind...careers officer didn't much like me :rotfl:

leveller2911

CLAPTON wrote: »

Except for one person, everyone knows that there is boom and bust... the economy goes in cycles... maybe one day we will be able to control it but that's for the future.

Although change is often painful, if there was no change we would all be hunter gathers

Thatcher didn't destroy manufacturing industry... a combination of rubbish products (compared to those available from Japan / Germany etc ) and the high value of the pound due to North Sea Oil and Gas was responsible.... basically British people didn't buy British product (did you?)

Hopefully a further massive devaluation of the pound, making foreign imports more expensive may lead to a new manufacturing industry here.

The problem was that other countries were giving subsidies to their industries, grants etc to implement new technology ,we didn't we let ours rot.

You will not see a new manufacturing base of any size in this country because it isn't important to the government,all they have wanted was for London to be the financial centre of the world and they don't give a fig for anywhere outside London.

bo_drinker

I work(ed) in construction mostly sub contract over the last 12 years, sub contracting is as good as dead now. The o p has it right in many ways. The rates for the very few jobs advertised have nose dived. I will be out of it I am sure this year. I am one of the fortunate ones as I can diversify and am now doing other things more than one iron in the fire if you like. There are many who know nothing else as they have been in it from leaving school. I went to town today and saw 4 brickies I have worked with in the past all seperately and I know none are working, I see other trades all in the same boat. Many will get out this year because they are forced to, many will go under, it's depressing. At the same time the car industry here are having huge loans, who is going to buy the cars?? By the time the gov't realise what is really happening out there it will be too late. I think things will get much worse before they get better. Jobs I had in the pipe line were shelved or cancelled due to lack of funds. I realise it is right across the board and t b h it's frightening.

vivatifosi

The problem with construction is that it is a highly cyclical industry and when the bust part of the cycle comes it gets hit hard - every time. Remember the 1970s recession? The government then threatened to nationalise the building industry (the Building Britain's Future project). The 1980s/early 90s recession? That'll be the one that the company that developed Canary Wharf went under (first time round).

Every time round the developers put their foot on the brake with some going under, construction clams up and some go under, big projects only go ahead with a pre-let. Although some sectors (eg infrastructure) are more recession proof,new project starts don't really get under way until the existing stock is taken up and then there's too much demand so the market heats up and the whole crazy dance sets off again until the music stops and someone removes another chair from the game.