Reply to: Naval ships need welders? Import Poles

[mrdonuts]

£15 per hour is just £562 per week, or £30k per year BEFORE all sort of taxes which would take back 50% easy, hardly a massive salary for people who are tasked to build stuff like aircraft carriers.

and not the healthiest of jobs either, far more dangerous than teachers or firemen who are paid far too much

[xoggoth]

This a vicious circle. If fewer British workers are taken on to save cash or due to supposed shortage, fewer will train as is no demand/low pay. If foreign contractors are taken on instead of British it is those that will have the experience and gain the future jobs.
This damaging effect applies to professional jobs too, as in the NHS.

Non-EU doctors to be barred from UK training posts | News

[EternalOptimist]

Why cant they get Billy Connoly in to weld up the aircraft carriers ? It's about time he gave something back. He could even get to name them if he wants
how about 'wee jobbie' and 'the big yin'

[Troll]

Even Dyson himself depends on foreign nationals for his operations.

Dyson shut down the UK manufacturing operation and shipped it out East...he got a knighthood for that

[scooterscot]

I think it has little to do with not having enough skilled people available, but more a case of not having enough skilled people prepared to do the work for minimum wage.

I disagree.

Hands on skills in the country, particularly engineering, is severely lacking. Various engineering departments I've worked you'd be lucky if the a 3rd of the office was British. Even Dyson himself depends on foreign nationals for his operations.

I've been trying to recruit in the last year myself. Even a little common sense is unattainable.

Folks in this country are not interested in engineering. All that interests is how to make a quick buck.

We'll learn the hard way long before it's too late...

[TimberWolf]

IT is going the same way as ship building, assuming it isn't dead in the water already.

[Sysman]

All the welders I used to know got laid off nearly 30 years ago

Thatcher, I blame you for thinking that if you didn't own a shop your labours were dispensable.

And your typical grocer's shop was wrapped up in Resale price maintenance

Fine when you have a monopoly and can afford to despise the lower classes. Crap when you need the skills that have been destroyed.

Question to Maggie: Who used to spend money in your father's shop?

[MrMark]

I think it has little to do with not having enough skilled people available, but more a case of not having enough skilled people prepared to do the work for minimum wage.

We've seen the system admin jobs at £8/£9 a hour. Presumably when no decent applicants apply then the overseas lot are bought in.

[centurian]

That's what happens when you stop recruiting apprentices for 15 years.

I think it has little to do with not having enough skilled people available, but more a case of not having enough skilled people prepared to do the work for minimum wage.

[AtW]

£15 per hour is just £562 per week, or £30k per year BEFORE all sort of taxes which would take back 50% easy, hardly a massive salary for people who are tasked to build stuff like aircraft carriers.

[MrMark]

even £15 an hour does not sound massive to me

Well yes, surely if you need skilled experienced workers that is not ott. At some stage the government may realise (although I'm not hopeful) that the more local workers are deprived of work and become dependent on benefits, the bigger the deficit (or lower tax receipts). If the whole thing collapses, I'd like to see Fox, Osborne, Brown, Mandelson et al taken to the tower for betraying the country.

[AtW]

If they pay to little for work (even £15 an hour does not sound massive to me), WTF those things cost £2 bln?!?!?! It can't be all metal.

[scooterscot]

The welding quality of Eastern europeans compared to those at home is massive.

A small company I once worked for thought they could save a buck by exporting the steel to poland for welding and shipping it back to the UK.

The chief engineer and I went down to the workshop with a hammer and almost separated 2 welded fabrications that were supposed to hold a load of 30 tons!

Naturally the project was delayed and delivered at a considerably loss while we did the work ourselves as we should have done from the beginning.

[Moscow Mule]

That's what happens when you stop recruiting apprentices for 15 years.

[TimberWolf]

So British tradesmen will be paid £15/hour while 'some' Polish workers will be paid £8 / hour. This doesn't appear to make sense, with two people doing similar jobs being paid a different wage based on ethnicity, unless two different job categories are being welded into one for the story.