Author Topic: The EU and foreign workers  (Read 1882 times)

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Offline stoop

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The EU and foreign workers
« on: May 03, 2017, 11:57:01 AM »
We've just had a lovely week in Sorrento and stayed at a brilliant hotel, ate some great food, went on some lovely trips. However one thing stuck out more than anything - everyone, as far as I could tell, was Italian!

Every waiter, every member of staff we met in the hotel. Every bar, every trip - all Italian (and lovely).

Imagine going into a British hotel and seeing every member of staff was from the UK?

I have no idea why this was the case or if it's just Sorrento but it was very obvious.






Offline JohnF

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Re: The EU and foreign workers
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2017, 12:23:12 PM »
Nope.  Away from the major tourist areas, Spain is the same. In the tourists areas migrants often get jobs because they speak English/German/Scandi etc.  However, the Spanish government have taken steps to boost foreign language learning, you can't graduate from university now without a certain level of English or other foreign language.

The mantra shouted by many, pre referendum, was that these EU migrants are coming over and stealing our jobs.  The problem with that statement is that no-one wants these jobs that migrants currently fulfil in the hospitality industry. 

This from the Guardian:

The shortage of British workers in UK hotels and restaurants is so severe that chains such as Pret a Manger will need 10 years to replace EU staff after Brexit, the British Hospitality Association has warned.

Days after Pret’s human resources director told MPs that just one in 50 applicants for jobs at the company were British, the BHA predicted that hotels and restaurants would go bust unless ministers allowed EU migrants to continue to work in low-skilled jobs after the UK leaves the bloc. Full article

And from the other side of the political spectrum, this is from the Torygraph:

Businesses across the UK have warned that tighter immigration controls will weaken the nation’s global standing, describing suggestions that British workers could simply replace EU nationals as a “fallacy”.

Industry groups representing hundreds of thousands of businesses have told the House of Lords economic affairs committee that restrictions on foreign staff in workplaces such as hospitals, universities and factories would hit business and the wider economy. Full article

JF




Offline Colwyn

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Re: The EU and foreign workers
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2017, 14:26:59 PM »
A possibly related point ... In a recent radio discussion I heard someone arguing that in the UK being a waiter is not regarded as a "proper" job and the likely reaction to telling someone you are a waiter would probably be "Never mind. Something may turn up for you soon". Elsewhere in Europe it is seen as a skilled occupation for which you train and can be proud of having. To the extent that this is true I suspect that it could be applied to other jobs in the hospitality industry.

Offline stoop

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Re: The EU and foreign workers
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2017, 15:37:44 PM »
This was a major tourist area though.

I think Colwyn has a point. It's seen as a decent job in parts of Europe but not in the uk.

The other thing I noticed was the lack of people of "Middle Eastern" appearance. In the whole week I  saw one lady wearing a headscarf who appeared to be Muslim.

Someone told me they are quite discriminatory in Italy. I know there's a story at the moment regarding football and discrimination over there.

Maybe other cities are different?

Offline badger

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Re: The EU and foreign workers
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2017, 17:29:14 PM »
We recently spent a week in Spain 10 mins from San Javier airport (Murcia) and we found most of the waiters there were either English or Indian except in the Tapas bars, naturally. An area where the Spanish holiday mainly and the brits are few and far between although it was early in the season.




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