Strike action..

Off-topic
1

So Britain is in the grip of another recession and some of the Great British Workforce have decided it’s a good time to strike…:w00t:

Can’t see the problem with using labour from overseas if the salary is the same as UK rates. In all probability the Italians were better qualified for the job in any event…

If the UK starts to say “no” to overseas labour other countries can do the same. Britain will be a very busy island if every Brit who works abroad comes “home”.

The "spokesmen " for the striking group couldn’t string a sentence together and did not come across as a man to be leading a dog, far less a union.

No bike , car , coal and many other industries left in the UK and we can’t blame “Johnny Foriegner” for that…;):slight_smile:

2

Ignorant union shocker! However dumb their actions are it has to be said the way it was handled by the management it’s hardly surprising this has happened.

3

im all for the strikes…

this country has let every toerag and his dog from 3rd world country’s and other country’s to set up shop here and it has to stop…

limited skilled imigration is good enough but labour have taken it too far…

they’ve tucked up this country again and the british ppl have had enough.

when the strikes come down this way i shall be joining them on the picket lines…

the northarners have back bone and are not afraid to stick up for themselves…bloody good on em…

go on boys!!!..go get em!!

smiled:).

4

You couldn’t make it up if you tried. A UK subsidiary of a global oil company outsource work to a Californian company who sub-contract to an Italian company who ship in Italian and Portuguese workers, put them in a floating hotel and then pay them minimum wage not to work, in Euros, because of the strike. And all because an EU court decided that freedom for individuals to move and work freely round the EU applied to corporations as well as individuals.

What really puzzles me is that it’s cheaper for Total to do all that and for the Californian and Italian companies to do that when the Euro is relatively strong against the Pound. You would think that the falling pound made UK labour more competitive. Presumably the lack of company-union employment agreements and bargaining mean a lower actual wage and benefits.

As a Times cartoon put it. British Strikes for British Strikers! Don’t allow those foreign scabs to strike on your behalf!

5

gotta agree with you mate about time we stuck up for ourselves we should have a points system like the septics,aussies cannucks etc and if they have skills we need and they do it at OUR rates and not undercut us then fine, my industry (transport) is a prime example of us not having a level playing field and we never have had when it comes to europe. you try and go abroad and get work or benifits etc see where you get told to go

6

Had to calm down a bit before writing it, but I’m sorry, some of you are f**ing idiots!

Don’t confuse freedom of movement within the EU and outside (point system doesn’t apply anywhere for people moving within the EU).
You take the bits you like from the EU (free trade) and as soon as things start to go bad you don’t want to send all non-British EU citizens home???

I’ve been here nearly 9 years now, I pay more tax than average, I’ve got my home and life here, and you narrow minded idiots agree with the other bunch of unmannered striking dumb a$$es in saying I should pack up and go?

F**K OFF!!!

7

What an ill informed narrow minded reaction to have .:w00t:
I have run my company for twenty five years and employed up to one hundred and fifty people. A small company by many standards but it means that i knew every one of them personally.
Now they are all out looking for work trying to compete with some eastern European who can work for thirty pounds a day cash in hand.The get of your ass speech can only come from a civil servant or similar who has a job for life and no need to produce a thing. If the immigrants were politicians working for thirty quid a day Gordon would have had them imprisoned at the docks:angry:

8

So you don’t want a hand packing then ??:stuck_out_tongue:

9

I think you should go back Dries :w00t::PNothing wrong with some of the foreigners working in this country, just as someone has already pointed out we have people from here working in other countries too.I do think it is too easy for people to come over to this country live off benfits and fleece all the hard working tax payers, we should be more like the aussies… Its not just the foreign workers that mess up this country either. This country has gotten too soft and its down to your everday average jo… saying how people should be treated, thats why the army has gotten so soft aswel cause of human rights ******… Some people are slow to react when it comes to pulling the trigger in a war zone because they have to worry about what the consequences will be… I cant even take people running through a stream on PT because of how crap health & safety has got due to people suing for the smallest of things just to make a quick buck… Prisons… sheesh i remember reading about one prison spending £10,000 on a hole in the floor cause it was against some of the inmates religion to use a normal toilet… dont comit the crime then, you should lose all your rights in prison. They should make them all work and the money made from there work should be used to fund the runing of the prison.I could go on about more but id be here all day… Oh and make the army crown exempt again and bring back national service, that’ll sort out the scroats that think there all big and hard walking round with their knives and guns. This country is lacking in discipline big time

10

Some good points there asbo :slight_smile:

11

I’ve probably reacted a bit too fiercefully, but it really really upsets me when I hear these people on telly basically telling we should pack up and go (however you put it, that’s what they mean).
I’m not really sure where you’re going with this though. You seem to suggest I am a civil servant, which I’m not (although I have no preconceptions about civil servants, I know a lot of nice people who work in the public sector), you seem to suggest I work illegally for £30 cash in hand, which I don’t. I have my own business and work hard for it. I’m not cheap, but I know there’s people out there that will pay for a good service, wherever I may have been born,
If you are talking about illegal workers, then fine, but, like Asbo mentions, let’s include all the benefit thiefs, all the people who work cash in hand (doesn’t matter where they’re born), all those long term un-employed that have no intention of ever getting a job …

12

Obviously any nation worthy of the name should support its own people before foreigners, that’s what countries exist for and is the basis remit of any nation state.

What caused this strike is the audacity of a firm operating in an area of burgeoning unemployment not even allowing local labour to apply for these jobs in their own basic locality, within their own country; that’s hardly reasonable by any stretch of the imagination. I’d characterise it as a very underhand form of exploitation.

British jobs for British people should mean just that, especially during the current economic crisis.

We simply can’t afford to cater for everyone…

13

Complete nonsense! EU migrants have brought a positive contribution to the UK economy (as in the generated more money than what they have cost), Fair enough, this may change, but you can just tell them to p*ss off now that it’s not going so well.

If Britain wanted to positively discriminate British workers over other EU citizens they would need to leave the EU, and now is probably the worst time for that. Britain doesn’t have anything to export that is unique to Britain, so if they leave the EU and over protect, we’ll (or you, I’d be kicked out by the nationalists) will need to deal with a backlash which is likely to involve a EU boycott of British products. If you think that would be good, think again because the living standard would generally have to drop a long way.

So what will you nationalists propose next? Fine people who travel abroad? Charge import duty for any products from abroad?

14

Why do you think migrants have a greater right to live and work in this country than the indigenous British?

Would you feel the same about your own nation?

If over-migration (and unscrupulous employers) means the locals can’t find employment then obviously immigration isn’t working.

At the end of the day any nation has primary responsibility to its own people, that is what any country exists for.

It isn’t nationalism just commonsense.

15

Dont get me wrong i think we have got way to many foreign people in this country but not all are bad, there are some that bring alot to this country. I know dries and he is a top bloke.

Not that im a racist or anything like that but i know how some may take this the wrong way… The thing that realy pees me off about this country is how we are bending to ‘the foreigners’ ways/rights… if you wana live/work in this country you live by our rules/laws… do what you like in your own home but out in public your in britain not your own country… why the hell she we change our laws to suit them… Gona stop there before i realy get going…

Oh and sorry cause that is slightly off topic

16

It isn’t ‘racist’ to defend British culture, our way of life, values and the basic right to live and work in our own country.

I think the problem with immigration to date in this country is that in so many senses it has come at our expense, its Britain which has been made to change to accomodate various groups.

And all the while everyone is scared to talk about Britain, British identity, roots, culture and expressing and asserting pride in it because political correctness has in many senses disowned the natives of this land.

I can well understand why the protesters were sickened by Total’s underhand exploitation of foreign workers at the expense of our own, I fail to see how anyone born in this country would see that as reasonable.

17

Im hearing you on that one

18

Britain has always worked liked this…we were happyto employ these guys in what were seen as “menial” tasks…Suddenly it’s all turned around, now the Brits want the jobs back…If the guys from overseas are not being exploited (in this case I think not) where is the issue??

I have worked in countries other than UK for my entire working life (they need Scots:D) and I’d not be happy to be sent home due to politics rather than my lack of ability to carry out my tasks…Yes or no?:wink:

It won’t work…ask Arthur:w00t::w00t:

19

Not got so much of the problem with them working over here more as i said before about living by our laws and not us changing our ways for them

20

all pretty dangerous stuff and i am certainly glad that many of you are not in government.

Freedom of movement and to work is a must of the EU and will only serve to make the Eu more competitive against CHina, the US and the rest of the world.

Immigrants mostly add to our population, dont agree we have too many…

To blame them, immigrants for the lack of discipline, or to even associate it with the same thing is mostly loopy…we didnt have crime before immigration???

This country is still great, but if we alienate ourselves from Europe we will be in deep ****, if we aggravate the Europeans into banning UK workers, the UK people will hurt more than any European country…not sure of the exact numbers as I havent seen them for years but the british populate more countries in more numbers than any other nation.

Protectionism is so anti the british way of things that I cannot believe what I am hearing…have you all forgotton our history as a free trading nation when all around us have steadfastly tried to make trade one sided…this includes workers…

the trades unions have always supported free movement of labour and this is how it should stay.

Immigration is part of this and all the worlds countries, what is an Englishman, but a long lost cousin of the africans, come on people live and let live…

Prisons are not meant to be hell holes, this is why alcatraz was closed down…what you do is turn the prisoners into monsters…this is not the way to re-integrate them into society…prison never works and there is a massive case for the closure of them all, they have never served the public and still do not…putting mums away for not sending kids to school or putting speeding motorists inside is pure madness.

This country has lost its way on the issue of people…and the people have become uneducated, iliterate and demonstrative…this strike is not right…and is a result of many british work forces being unreliable, lazy and overpaid…

Multicultural societies are tough but can work and eventually bring all peoples together, segregation is the likely end of the human race…and will never work…