Mandelson calls protests 'xenophobic'

[Mich the Tester]

The word on the street is that it isn't as easy to get jobs on mainland europe as it is for them to get jobs here. They exercise more discrimination.

That's a huge generalisation. The most noticeable issue in discrimination is that continental employers tend to expect you to speak the local language; I don't consider that discrimination for most jobs though. Unfortunately that works out badly for some British people who don't seem to be all that strong when it comes to learning a language. My experience is that if you speak the language, most people in most places will treat you as an equal.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Maybe now is a good time to get this raised?

I wonder if the PCG are doing anything on this?

[Doggy Styles]

That's a huge generalisation. The most noticeable issue in discrimination is that continental employers tend to expect you to speak the local language; I don't consider that discrimination for most jobs though. Unfortunately that works out badly for some British people who don't seem to be all that strong when it comes to learning a language. My experience is that if you speak the language, most people in most places will treat you as an equal.

You're probably right, as I implied I don't have the facts, only remembering snippets.

I once got an engineering job in Europe without the local language, although I made sure I started learning it as soon as I arrived.

[sunnysan]

Language

The word on the street is that it isn't as easy to get jobs on mainland europe as it is for them to get jobs here. They exercise more discrimination.

IMHO the UK is a lot more accepting of language/cultural differences than the EU in general. I think possibly a lot of this is to do with language and the fact that most EU nationals can speak english whereas UK nationals tend to be unilingual, unless they make a concerted effort not to be.

Its once again education and the penny dropped when I was away on holiday in a holiday resort in the tropics. At a resort was a group of youngsters all about 15 odd. They where german,french,russian and english.

The group where speaking English as the English kids could not speak German,French or Russian but all the other kids could speak English.

If you go to Germany you will be discrimnated against if you cannot speak German, ditto France/French, Italy/Italian etc etc

This is natural and practical. If we want to be competitive within the EU, then I think a good place to start is to make sure that UK kids can at least speak French or German with elective Polish/Italian etc etc.

Most marginally educated Europeans speak their native langauge,English and at least one other language of a neighbouring country.

In this respect Europeans have an advantage over UK before they even get to the workplace.

[Cyberman]

The word on the street is that it isn't as easy to get jobs on mainland europe as it is for them to get jobs here. They exercise more discrimination.

European construction workers come here for the higher wages (we are the best payers) or because there's no work in their countries. So if British workers 'get on their bike', they will either earn less in Europe plus have higher overheads for subsistence and travel, or have nowhere to go anyway.

Besides, why force your own people to travel abroad for work? They might like living in their own country and watching their kids grow up.

There's something wrong with this situation but I can't quite put my finger on it.

There are many reasons why it is more difficult to get work in Europe, not least the language problem. We are the least discriminating country in Europe and we are currently paying a heavy price for it. If you go to Germany you will not see many Black people for instance and Eastern Germany is reknowned for racial attacks. I am proud that we accept people of all races and religions without them fearing random violent attacks.


The major problem is that Labour have allowed no leeway with their mass immigration. These people were being encouraged to take British jobs for over a decade at the expense of indigenous workers and at lower rates of pay. Millions of immigrants have entered the country and now that we have a downturn the problem of unemployment of locals is exacerbated. We took a million or so Poles when other countries such as Germany took up the option to reject their entry for seven years. We also have a million or so illegal workers which HMG has been very poor at resolving. Labour and us are now paying the price for 'lassez faire' immigration policy.

[Mich the Tester]

If you go to Germany you will be discrimnated against if you cannot speak German, ditto France/French, Italy/Italian etc etc

This is natural and practical. If we want to be competitive within the EU, then I think a good place to start is to make sure that UK kids can at least speak French or German with elective Polish/Italian etc etc.

It’s best to learn a Germanic language, most obviously German, and a latin language like French, Italian or Spanish. That way you can easily learn other languages in mainland Europe’s two major language groups.

[AlfredJPruffock]

We took a million or so Poles

That is the very least we could have done for the Poles - invaded by the Nazis and the Soviets they had a brutal time - Churchill was forced to abandon Poland to Stalin due to pressure form the USA following the Potsdam conference - to Britains shame we condemned Poland to the Soviets.

So in my estimation it was correct to help the Poles in any way we could.

[Cyberman]

It’s best to learn a Germanic language, most obviously German, and a latin language like French, Italian or Spanish. That way you can easily learn other languages in mainland Europe’s two major language groups.

Labour announced a few weeks ago that Latin is to be taken off of the national curriculum. More evidence of forward-thinking, joined-up policies !!

[DodgyAgent]

There are many reasons why it is more difficult to get work in Europe, not least the language problem. We are the least discriminating country in Europe and we are currently paying a heavy price for it. If you go to Germany you will not see many Black people for instance and Eastern Germany is reknowned for racial attacks. I am proud that we accept people of all races and religions without them fearing random violent attacks.


The major problem is that Labour have allowed no leeway with their mass immigration. These people were being encouraged to take British jobs for over a decade at the expense of indigenous workers and at lower rates of pay. Millions of immigrants have entered the country and now that we have a downturn the problem of unemployment of locals is exacerbated. We took a million or so Poles when other countries such as Germany took up the option to reject their entry for seven years. We also have a million or so illegal workers which HMG has been very poor at resolving. Labour and us are now paying the price for 'lassez faire' immigration policy.

Why does every argument you make polarise itself as a Tory/Labour issue?

[Cyberman]

Why does every argument you make polarise itself as a Tory/Labour issue?

... because it is Labour policies that have allowed mass immigration that has taken jobs that are now causing more Brits to be unemployed than would otherwise have been the case. Thus it is a HMG policy and thus Labour issue.

Labour has increased employment in the public sector by approx 1.1 million since 1997. If those 1.1 million had been allowed to filter into the private sector instead, we would not have needed such an influx from abroad to fill private sector jobs, and Labour could now recruit into the public sector to give Brits much needed jobs and alleviate current unemployment. Instead, jobs in the public sector will actually be cut soon and that will exacerbate the unemployment problem.