JTI Gallaher cigarette factory plant in Ballymena to close permanently by 2017

qwert_yuiop

So what's the chances of it being bought by some other company and all the jobs being readvertised at half the pay?

motorguy

I dont think too many of their will get similar paid jobs elsewhere in Ballymena lets put it that way.

warmhands.coldheart

mamabuddah wrote: »

.....There are 3 major employers left now...Michelin (they're on shaky ground) Wrightbus (who have quite a few workers NOT from the area ) and Moy Park (used to be o'Kanes) who seem to employ almost exclusively workers that they "bus in" from outside the town. Believe it or not, they use agencies to employ their staff, they have to sit an entrance exam in Maths & English (use of, reading/written/spoken word)...mind you the exam is easy as they use interpreters to tell examinees what the questions are....just exactly how that works for Health & Safety I don't know...bit difficult when you don't speak English I would imagine...of course then you have the problem of any new recruits (local) being trained by someone with a poor or non existent grasp of the English language...it beggars belief.

you cant blame employers for employing "non locals" if they will do the job for less money.......

Welcome to the "Free Market" Isn't that what everyone wants ??? A free market so we can get our 40" flat screen TV's from China for under £200...... and buy our 2 x 2 litre jars of milk for £2 when the farmer is paid 28p/litre for something that's costing him 30p to produce....
Now That's what I call SUSTAINABILITY !!

motorguy

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

So what's the chances of it being bought by some other company and all the jobs being readvertised at half the pay?

Presumably you mean the factory itself after everyone has been made redundant?

Probably very little, but what other tobacco manufacturer is going to want an aging plant with machinery thats made for small packs in a market that only allows large packs now?

Most likely worth more as a development site or an industrial estate.

qwert_yuiop

mamabuddah wrote: »

Moy Park (used to be o'Kanes) who seem to employ almost exclusively workers that they "bus in" from outside the town. Believe it or not, they use agencies to employ their staff, they have to sit an entrance exam in Maths & English (use of, reading/written/spoken word)...mind you the exam is easy as they use interpreters to tell examinees what the questions are....just exactly how that works for Health & Safety I don't know...bit difficult when you don't speak English I would imagine...of course then you have the problem of any new recruits (local) being trained by someone with a poor or non existent grasp of the English language...it beggars belief.

Same in Portadown and dungannon - foreigners imported for these jobs. Plenty of unemployed people about.

What's going on?

qwert_yuiop

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

you cant blame employers for employing "non locals" if they will do the job for less money.......

Welcome to the "Free Market" Isn't that what everyone wants ??? A free market so we can get our 40" flat screen TV's from China for under £200...... and buy our 2 x 2 litre jars of milk for £2 when the farmer is paid 28p/litre for something that's costing him 30p to produce....
Now That's what I call SUSTAINABILITY !!

If these are minimum wage jobs, there is a net cost to the country, as income support, housing benefit, health care, you name it is much higher than anything produced through tax. Therefore the state is subsidising Moypark jobs. What a mess.

motorguy

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Same in Portadown and dungannon - foreigners imported for these jobs. Plenty of unemployed people about.

What's going on?

Because they can get a commitment from the agency to provide X amount of staff on any given day and they will have them there.

As opposed to the dole heads who'll turn up for a day or two, then start to ring in sick or come in just when it suits them.

There IS work about - just some people think its beneath them.

saverbuyer

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

If these are minimum wage jobs, there is a net cost to the country, as income support, housing benefit, health care, you name it is much higher than anything produced through tax. Therefore the state is subsidising Moypark jobs. What a mess.

Exactly. Tax credits are a £30 billion a year subsidy to big business.

Why pay a decent wage when the government tops it up with inwork benefits.

saverbuyer

motorguy wrote: »

Because they can get a commitment from the agency to provide X amount of staff on any given day and they will have them there.

As opposed to the dole heads who'll turn up for a day or two, then start to ring in sick or come in just when it suits them.

There IS work about - just some people think its beneath them.

There's also the whole why work if you have a couple of kids, when the money you receive after tax and benefit reductions, leaves you with less than you receive not working.

It's a messed up system than means for many, work just doesn't pay. Particularly for those in minimum wage jobs.

duggan1

motorguy wrote: »

Because they can get a commitment from the agency to provide X amount of staff on any given day and they will have them there.

As opposed to the dole heads who'll turn up for a day or two, then start to ring in sick or come in just when it suits them.

There IS work about - just some people think its beneath them.

This is it. I've done work with the agencies that supply a lot of the (mainly) Polish staff and the answer is that places such as Moy Park specifically request Poles/Czechs. They don't always simply pay minimum wage either. The reasons are that they get a good shift out of them in general. They have a work ethic that they say we used to have. They are almost always amenable to overtime and extended shifts, whereas 'local' workers tend to refuse it.

People are conditioned to believe that chopping up meat and cleaning toilets are not 'proper' jobs, especially when their mate down the pub has a cushy council number. When I was unemployed I would have scrubbed anything for minimum wage, but being 'educated' meant I didn't even get considered for such work.