I back this strike !!

[Cyberman]

The contract was put out to tender. The customer chose from the tenders and selected a supplier, then signed a contract. Now it is up to both parties to fulfil their part in the contract. That’s how business works. If you want preferential treatment for native workers and businesses, then the best way is to nationalise industry and keep all work in-house. I would suggest you vote for these chaps at the next election. Heaven knows why anyone calls you CyberTory.
I'd sooner say Cyberscargill.

If that was how it was done and a British company had a fair chance then I have no problem with it. However, I am very sceptical.

[ThomasSoerensen]

God forbid, there is a French company operating in Britain.

Close it down....!

referring to Britain I am sure - the other would be stupid

[M_B]

The contract was put out to tender. The customer chose from the tenders and selected a supplier, then signed a contract. Now it is up to both parties to fulfil their part in the contract. That’s how business works. If you want preferential treatment for native workers and businesses, then the best way is to nationalise industry and keep all work in-house. I would suggest you vote for these chaps at the next election. Heaven knows why anyone calls you CyberTory.
I'd sooner say Cyberscargill.

In the meantime the local skilled labour that wants to work won't be able to. They'll claim dole but be viewed as work shy and the economy of the local area will suffer because of a drop in income affecting not just the families involved, but also the families of periphery service industries. In the long run they will either have to accept lower wages, relocate or reskill at a cost to the taxpayer and if they reskill then the old skill will be lost.

Free market economics needs to strike a balance. The company involved could have made an effort to employ locally skilled labour but didn't.

[dang65]

There are men here whose fathers and uncles have worked at this refinery, built this refinery from scratch. It's outrageous.

hurrah! All hail to the Hereditary Principle of Oil Refining!

Reminds me of one of those Who Do You Think You Are? programmes where the subject (god knows who it was) discovered that his ancestors came from an iron working town.

"The people here are are born to the smell of the foundries, the sound of the hammers, the glow of the burning coals... they have iron in their blood!"

Uh, yeah, they probably would have.

[Mich the Tester]

If that was how it was done and a British company had a fair chance then I have no problem with it. However, I am very sceptical.

Well the company who put out the tender are French. I can’t imagine there was anything stopping British oil companies from building a facility at the same site, but piss poor British technology management, combined with piss poor British technical education and piss poor British fiscal policy have apparently given French oil companies and Italian engineers a big advantage in the oil business. It doesn’t surprise me because I have not yet met a British manager who understands the concept of productivity. I’ve also seen how a socialist government has taxed transport so heavily that industries have buggered off to developing countries where they can pollute at will and abuse child workers. One of the most important costs in manufacturing is the cost of carting stuff about; if you have the most expensive diesel in Europe, don’t be surprised if all the factories close.

Personally I think the decision to give the contract entirely to foreign workers is short sighted and may actually damage the business; I am convinced that business is better off maintaining good relations with the communities in which it operates and better off looking at consequences for all stakeholders when taking decisions rather than the short term bottom line. However, that’s a management decision for the business concerned and not for government intervention.

[BlasterBates]

It's not an idea !! They are all put up on a barge, and this story was in the news two weeks ago and I posted on it, but most chose to ignore it. I am very pleased that we are now taking action but knowing the way that our unions operate it could unfortunately lead to violence.

On a major construction site you put up temporary accomodation. Makes sense to use barges. At a powerstation we were all put up in prefab containers.

[Cyberman]

Well the company who put out the tender are French.

That says it all really. Do you think that the French would give the Brits a fair chance ? I don't.

[ratewhore]

Well the company who put out the tender are French. I can’t imagine there was anything stopping British oil companies from building a facility at the same site, but piss poor British technology management, combined with piss poor British technical education and piss poor British fiscal policy have apparently given French oil companies and Italian engineers a big advantage in the oil business. It doesn’t surprise me because I have not yet met a British manager who understands the concept of productivity. I’ve also seen how a socialist government has taxed transport so heavily that industries have buggered off to developing countries where they can pollute at will and abuse child workers. One of the most important costs in manufacturing is the cost of carting stuff about; if you have the most expensive diesel in Europe, don’t be surprised if all the factories close.

Personally I think the decision to give the contract entirely to foreign workers is short sighted and may actually damage the business; I am convinced that business is better off maintaining good relations with the communities in which it operates and better off looking at consequences for all stakeholders when taking decisions rather than the short term bottom line. However, that’s a management decision for the business concerned and not for government intervention.

Nice rant. Although, if the current situation is a result of 'piss poor British technology management, combined with piss poor British technical education and piss poor British fiscal policy...', I would argue that Govt intervention is necessary because it is Govt measures that got the country to that state in the first place...

[Cyberman]

On a major construction site you put up temporary accomodation. Makes sense to use barges. At a powerstation we were all put up in prefab containers.

Fair enough, but if the locals are getting upset because they have not been given a fair chance at getting these jobs when we will have 3.4 million unemployed next year, expect some big problems.

[cojak]

You really don’t like free market Economics do you?

Only when it suits him...