those foreigners comin 'ere stealing us jobs and women!

[Cdr]

I blame that Pop Idol, we've had at least one war, no peace in the middle east and a number of murders since that's been on!

BURN THE POP IDOL!

 

[DaGaffer]

It's going to get worse; exporting jobs to India etc. isn't just call centers, I've got a mate who works for Oracle in the UK - most of his team are based in Bangalore... Don't look for 'fairness' when it comes to jobs being imported/exported anymore, these are the joys of globalisation, it's just that its hitting the middle classes for the first time now.

As for the Aussie thing, they can afford to undercut simply because the pound is so strong next to the Aussie dollar (and SA Rand for that matter) - if you're an Aussie or South African porfessional, you'd have to be mad not to come to the UK and grab as much currency as you can right now, and if you're prepared to rough it a bit, you can easily undercut the UK opposition. Agree that the rules seem a bit skewed in favour of our colonial cousins when it comes to getting hold of a work permit though, but its nothing new, Americans, Aussies and the rest have found it easier to come here than vice-versa for decades now.

 

[Maljonic]

Probably because we need them more than they need us, otherwise things might be set up differently. Not talking about the camera work now, but often immigrents are doing work here that the English people aren't prepared to do; like being a nurse for instance, or driving underground trains and such. Our country has over 60 million people to cater for and not enough of them want to do it. Only 20 million people live in Australia, they do not have a shortage in work force so don't need immigrents; that's why you have to prove you are going for a job no one else can do; as opposed to here where they are going for jobs that no one else wants to do...

 

[DaGaffer]

Originally posted by Maljonic
...as opposed to here where they are going for jobs that no one else wants to do...

Except of course that's not true in the case of Aussies, South Africans, Americans etc. I used to work at the BBC and it was crawling with Australians, in very good jobs. Good on them to get the jobs and most of them were great people, but you're not telling me there weren't dozens of UK or even EU residents that couldn't have done their jobs.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by Maljonic
Not talking about the camera work now, but often immigrents are doing work here that the English people aren't prepared to do;

The thing is, that the people who I have issues with coming here and working, are not actually immigrants; these people are doing it purely for monetary gain, before returning home. I used to get a fair amount of work for BBC Watchdog, now the entire series is shot by a company in London, crewed entirely by Australians going out for almost half the standard daily rate for a crew. I just can't compete with that.

Not all of them are undercutting us. I know a couple of extremely skilled cameramen who are superb at their job, and work for the standard rate. Its just that they don't permanently reside here. There are guys in this country who can do their job equally well, but aren't given the chance.

 

[Gumbo]

Isn't this the sort of thing that unions are meant to get uppitty with the government about?

 

[Maljonic]

Didn't Maggie put an end to that malarky?

 

[Tom]

BECTU (our union) is shit.

 

[Scouse]

how do they afford to undercut the UK crews?

In the same way that Australian IT contractors can completely undercut us UK-Types....

We've got a Australian bird who's just started for my client (contractor) and she's already angling to get her best m8 over from Oz to start there too.

Now - they're both on hourly rates which are only about 60% of mine. I couldn't afford to work at those rates (and I'm not expensive anyway). However, they can come over here for 2 years, build up 40 grand in a bank account and then fuck off back to Oz - where 40,000 POUNDS (it works out at a little over 100,000 australian dollars) will buy them a reasonable-sized beach-front property about 30 miles from a major city...

....with a pool.


Now. When it comes to contract renewal time, regardless of skillset (and I'm not bragging when I say I'm streets ahead in that department) - who are they gonna ditch? Yup - all the UK contractors - who have mortgages in THIS country......



THAT, my friend, is how they can afford to undercut you.



I'm all for them being paid the same rate and competeing on that basis. But they're not, because they don't need to be.

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Thank god for capitalism!

It's a good thing that businesses can get cheaper labour and earn a larger profit!

 

[Embattle]

I reckon they should fire all UK residents and hire some highly trained chimps from the Embattle ranch.........all your Bananas belong to us

 

[Scouse]

Originally posted by Scooba Da Bass
Thank god for capitalism!

It's a good thing that businesses can get cheaper labour and earn a larger profit!

Wind-up merchant Scoob! - Not falling for it



I'm all for a larger profit myself