Having listened to the news regarding shortages of skilled labour, it led me to think why have business and governments not promoted or invested in these skills within our labour market in years ?
We are told that the we are lazy and do not wish to work but is that another ruse by businesses so that they can recruit labour from abroad because it is cheaper and therefore more profits for the shareholders ?
Many companies have recruited from abroad in their job centres due to the fact people come trained so less expense. The incentives used are golden handshakes in Euro's and accommodation which is provided or recommended by the company through private landlords therefore less training and less expense more profit . Businesses appear to have used the exchange rate to get more for their bucks and so pushed the workforce here out of labour market by enthusing that people here just do not want to work.
Up until now this has worked well for businesses, however by the government stopping this, it has shown how businesses have exploited the workforce on both sides for their gain. The majority of those from abroad who have worked in these positions of so called ,'non skilled' labour have now returned to their countries and the majority are able to pick and choose where they wish to work or maybe just retire due to the monetary exchange.
However this has left a huge shortfall in our employment sector, due to the years of under investment of the manual labour sector because of the complacency of companies to recruit from abroad and the negative spin, lack of education and funding in this field here . Many so called 'non-skilled' labour is the the most skilled however, through years of exploiting the workforce here, through working conditions and low pay, (that do not cover the cost of living), companies have been able to use the labour market abroad as most of the people where trained and transient, therefore the cost of living here was not so much of an issue to companies as they returned home to their country on a regular basis and improved their own countries economy. Here one of the issues is the welfare system. It does not accommodate seasonal workers which is a contributing factor in some sectors. This is one of the many issues needs to be resolved for both parties.
All the years of underfunding, low wages and not appreciating and valuing the workforce here by being able to recruit in countries with a good exchange rate has come home to roost. The tables have turned and now these companies will have to wake up to the fact that there is a workforce here but they will have to appreciate them instead of degrading them for the sake of cheap exchange rates and profits!
Footnote :Who classifies what is 'skilled' and what is 'non skilled' ? Have any of those that define the classifications actually worked in the field of so called, 'non skilled' labour ? Do they really know what they are talking about ? Right now they might want to rethink about the classification system !
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Hi Hédé,
I understand that they have accepted about thirty to fifty thousand foreign agricultural workers to come to England to work on the land on special visas. They work harder and accept lower wages than the British workers. The Lorry drivers are now being offered high wages to drive for companies like Aldi and other supermarkets. If they bring a friend they will get an extra hundred and fifty pound!
They want to recruit from abroad because they accept less and work more hours. It takes six -eight months to train to be a HGV licensed driver.
I agree with you these British drivers and workers have been undervalued in the past. It is the shareholders who want to make more money. There is something wrong with this privatised system which wants to pay it's workers less money!