Polish in the UK working for peanuts, gets on my t!ts!!!!?

Question

My fella is a civil engineer, he always has been and probably always will. He is very good at his job and takes a lot of pride in the work that he does.

The other day a group of Polish men came onto his building site and offered his boss cheap labour. They said that they will give 1/3 of whatever they earn back to him if he will employ them. Thankfully my partners boss politely told them to "go away".
There are however a few Polish groups who have begun working on his site who tell him that they are happy working for a minimal wage. Although the majority speak little or no English which must be a H&S issue, in such a dangerous environment?

I am concerned that in time there will be no requirement to pay good wages to hard working British citizens when there are so many European "monkeys" flooding into this country who will do it for peanuts. I know this is old news to some people and the issue has been raised before but what are peoples opinions on this subject? Thanks xx

It appears that I have got some peoples backs up with my question.
To DILB, your comment has no relavence to my question at all, precious!!
To stay_fan1, would you be cheesed off if you are skilled in an area which you have worked for the past 13 yrs and then all of a sudden you are no longer required and cannot get work in that area for more thsn minimum wage if at all? How do you provide for your family? All of a sudden EVERYTHING becomes "too expensive" and you are using term a bit stronger than "european monkeys". I am not talking sweat shops here luv!!!

Answer 1

You've missed the point (Mary), they work for low wages because the government tops their money up. They won't do it for the indigenous population. The problem is they are driving Brits out of work. In my town 40 Brits have been sacked and Poles taken on instead and nothing can be done about it. It stinks and anybody that thinks Bliar has done a good job must be blind.

Answer 2

As a Civil Engineer your boyfriend is obviously highly skilled and trained, and part of a profession that is probably protected by a professional body - isn't there an Institute of Civil Engineers? Ask him to check out with his professional organisation what qualifications you need, as I am sure that whoever is entering this profession will need to have the same qualifications that he has.

However, labourers on a building site are less protected - my issue here is with the people who are employing cheap labour, they are the ones exploiting people and paying them below minimum wage, everyone who works here should be paid the same money for the same job, unfortunately Thatcher eroded the power of the unions to such an extent that employers can pretty much do as they like these days.

Answer 3

It's a classic 'follow the money' scenario.

Nobody starts threads here complaining about the corporate culture that sees people not in sales being seen as 'costs', and therefore continuous pressure is put on middle managers to reduce 'costs' drives down working practices.

Nor do people start threads that the anti-'grass' mentality of the British public means that no-one would report the site manager in the submitter's example for his embezzlement.

But Polish people coming to the UK, having not cost the UK a bean in schooling? That's a question a day here, at the very least.

Answer 4

We have them here in South Wales too, some I'm told are working on the gas pipe that's going through the UK.
I was served by a Polish lady and her daughter when I had a family Christmas meal out last year.It was very difficult as she could not understand a word of English.Waiting on tables should be jobs for students, British students, so they have some spending money for themselves.
As for the manual workers, they are taking jobs from our men.
If employers in the UK pay peanuts to these Polish invaders, then they will get the work done by monkeys who don't care about quality work.And indeed the public safety.How are we to know that these Polish workers have been trained to the high British H&S standards?

Answer 5

Really good question. I don't think there is an answer. However without being an answer to your question, fact is, things have changed and continue to change in our country. This is only one example. Offering a site manager part of their wages in return for work is corruption. That is how it is throughout the EU today. We in the UK still manage to limit corruption, but for how long, that's the question. I live in Spain, where Supermarkets do not put the EU statutory sell by dates on pre-packaged foods. When you complain they tell you to go to the city council and report them. You do it to no avail because the inspector who earns £700 a month has a yacht in the marina and a magnificent beach side villa. There you go, that's how it's going to be from now on.

Answer 6

Have to agree with Nick, take a good look around you and i bet you'll see a good percentage of "British Citizens" are claiming unemployment/sickness. Some of these are legitimate claimants but you can bet a lot of them are scammers, its these people who are too lazy to work that are bringing the country down not Polish immigrants. At least the polish are willing to work more than i can say for a lot of people around our way.

Answer 7

British builders did a similar thing during the 80s recession - many headed off to (West) Germany, a number to Spain.

This is globalisation - if a job can be done cheaper to a "similar" skill level, the niceties of working relationships and known ability often do not get in the way of price.

Agree it must be distressing when things get turned on their head and financial plans are made in accordance with perceptions of future security, which does not materialise.

Answer 8

If the Polish are willing to work for the minimum wage then fair play to them - too many locals would rather scrounge from the dole than bother to get off their ars*s and do a fair days work.

Answer 9

The shortage of skilled British labour meant you had to pay over the odds for it, and now you're stuck with a workforce that expects those rates of pay to continue.
Oh yeah, this isn't a recent thing, I know of gangs from S. Wales, who've worked in London because it was cheaper to pay them and put them in digs than pay local labour.

Answer 10

hear hear,good show they get on my man breasts as well,i worked on a building site recently and i thought i was in poland,the place was bursting at the seems man,i now work for another employer now and the first thing the boss asked the receptionist when i came in and asked for a job was is he polish,thers a lot of people getting fed up with polish people undercutting us in wages and i dont think it will be long before something happens about it.

Answer 11

>>They said that they will give 1/3 of whatever they earn back to him if he will employ them.

State-side we call this a kick-back and its illegal, isn't illegal in the UK?

We have the same problem with foreign workers in the US, an employer has to justify why they can't find qualified US workers before employing foreign workers, same in Canada too. The situation you describe would be illegal all the way around.