I'm Jealous! I want one......

[BrideXIII]

The farmers can get British labour, they just don't want to pay British wages. And who can blame them in a competitive market?

But your implication Beefy seems to be that a foreign workforce is a drain on the economy - and this clearly isn't the case. Immigrant workers pay rent, buy food, pay tax and generally contribute to their adopted economy. In my experience (living near Tiptree, where immigrant labour picks fruit for all that lovely jam), they are polite, friendly and in much better physical shape than their UK counterparts (ie less of a drain on the NHS). Some of their wages get sent home, sure, but plenty of British companies operate overseas and bring the profits home. What's the difference?

phew!! sorry can't resist saying how nice it is to see a balanced statement

it is far too easy to blame our immigration policy for the lack of jobs, its not that simple, it never was, and it never will be, it is however an easy 'excuse', we get fed it by the 'opposition' and we lap it up and repeat it ad naseum.

[sharonr]

[QUOTE=Paul Wagland;342598]The farmers can get British labour, they just don't want to pay British wages. And who can blame them in a competitive market?

Also some British people won`t do hard work. There was a programme on a while ago about imagrant workers in farming. The British people they interviewed wouldn`t do the work even for £10.00 an hour as it was hard work, and you worked 12 hour days. The Polish just got on with it.

[BrideXIII]

[QUOTE=sharonr;342779]

The farmers can get British labour, they just don't want to pay British wages. And who can blame them in a competitive market?

Also some British people won`t do hard work. There was a programme on a while ago about imagrant workers in farming. The British people they interviewed wouldn`t do the work even for £10.00 an hour as it was hard work, and you worked 12 hour days. The Polish just got on with it.

its a sad fact of life in this country, i would give my eye teeth for £10 an hour, show me the job?, and yet there are so many people that think that is a bad wage? maybe it is, but it's a wage, which is why immigrants will do it, and i will do it!!! £10 an hour are you kidding i'd bit some ones arm off to earn that?

[Irie Jan]

a point made, i would however point out that there are other concerns too, as in buying British? British Jobs etc?

each country should, if they can support themselves food wise, and export to those countries which cannot produce enough.

we are well able to feed ourselves, we do not need to be importing salad stuffs.......or a lot of other things.

Well said Birde!!

Im with you on this one! I buy British when I can and yes, on the job front it is better to give pepple here a chance to earn a living, rather than importing things that can be produced here!

[beefy]

The farmers can get British labour, they just don't want to pay British wages. And who can blame them in a competitive market?

But your implication Beefy seems to be that a foreign workforce is a drain on the economy - and this clearly isn't the case. Immigrant workers pay rent, buy food, pay tax and generally contribute to their adopted economy. In my experience (living near Tiptree, where immigrant labour picks fruit for all that lovely jam), they are polite, friendly and in much better physical shape than their UK counterparts (ie less of a drain on the NHS). Some of their wages get sent home, sure, but plenty of British companies operate overseas and bring the profits home. What's the difference?

Immigrant workers pay rent-
Most of the time rent is deducted from their pay as they live in houses "provided " by their employers.Put 15 to a house and charge them £50 / week rent and its not a bad way to pay the morgage.

buy food - mostly from Aldi and Lidl . Foreign owned where all profits leave the country .

pay tax and generally contribute to their adopted economy - minimum wage = minimum taxes.

Some of their wages get sent home = from experience a rough average of £50 / week / worker . When you count up 1 million immigrants thats £50 million a week leaving the British economy .

And the benifits are?
They are not much of a drain on the NHS .Well thats good then.

[sewer rat]

[QUOTE=BrideXIII;342788]

its a sad fact of life in this country, i would give my eye teeth for £10 an hour, show me the job?, and yet there are so many people that think that is a bad wage? maybe it is, but it's a wage, which is why immigrants will do it, and i will do it!!! £10 an hour are you kidding i'd bit some ones arm off to earn that?

If I could earn £10.00 an hour I'd be a happy man !! It's a fact of life that wages in the agricultural / horticultural sectors are way behind most wages.
As for 12 hour days - those tend to be the norm in agriculture, especially on livestock farms. Normal stockman's hours are 07:00 - 17:00, with every 2nd weekend off. Thre was also a loophole (not sure if it still exists) that I got caught in when I was a shepherd - you work stockman's hours - i.e the hours that the stock demand of you - and no overtime was applicable. My longest stint was approx 96 hours non stop - though to be fair we were two weeks into lambing hill ewes out bye and blizzards hit burying the stupid animals all over the place, so I spent 96 hours playing hide and seek with a shovel.

[beefy]

If I could earn £10.00 an hour I'd be a happy man !! It's a fact of life that wages in the agricultural / horticultural sectors are way behind most wages.
As for 12 hour days - those tend to be the norm in agriculture, especially on livestock farms. Normal stockman's hours are 07:00 - 17:00, with every 2nd weekend off. Thre was also a loophole (not sure if it still exists) that I got caught in when I was a shepherd - you work stockman's hours - i.e the hours that the stock demand of you - and no overtime was applicable. My longest stint was approx 96 hours non stop - though to be fair we were two weeks into lambing hill ewes out bye and blizzards hit burying the stupid animals all over the place, so I spent 96 hours playing hide and seek with a shovel.

There's nothing like a sheep that has made up it's mind to exit stage right SR is there?

[Paul Wagland]

I was trying to let this go, but it's just not in me!

Immigrant workers pay rent-
Most of the time rent is deducted from their pay as they live in houses "provided " by their employers.Put 15 to a house and charge them £50 / week rent and its not a bad way to pay the morgage.

That's a sweeping statement. But basically you're saying the farmer earns some of his money back? The farmer being part of the UK economy, yes? That's ok then, surely? We all benefit from farmers keeping their costs down.

I have a friend who's a landlord and has 18 tenants (almost all foreign, including Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian etc). They don't live '15 to a house' and they pay the same rent as UK nationals, all of which is part of the UK economy. His houses are all very high spec and he finds that UK nationals don't want to pay high rents for nice houses. Migrant workers, however, do - partly because they have higher quality housing back home than we have here (and that's a fact).

buy food - mostly from Aldi and Lidl . Foreign owned where all profits leave the country .

Who says they shop there? And anyway - don't we all, sometimes? Aldi and Lidl still pay UK business rates, UK utility bills, UK staff etc etc. As far as I'm aware, all the supermarkets now have a Polish food section to meet growing demand, even Sainsbury and Waitrose.

pay tax and generally contribute to their adopted economy - minimum wage = minimum taxes.

A minimum wage earner is still very much a net contributor to the economy, simply by virtue of the work they do.

Some of their wages get sent home = from experience a rough average of £50 / week / worker . When you count up 1 million immigrants thats £50 million a week leaving the British economy .

Ignoring the fact that (as you'll agree) they often work very long shifts, let's assume they work an average 40 hour week at the national minimum wage of £5.73. That's about £230 a week, and you're complaining they only contribute £180 of this (plus the full week's labour) to our economy?

And the benifits are?
They are not much of a drain on the NHS .Well thats good then.

I suppose you don't eat any of the fruit & veg they pick, you don't let them wash your car, serve you a drink in the pub, drive your taxi, clean your streets, wash your windows etc etc? I know I do.

[beefy]

I was trying to let this go, but it's just not in me!

.....I can

[RedThorn]

hmmm I feel I'm parallel parked in a sideways universe! talk about thread shift and tangents.... LOL