• Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
  • Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

Naval ships need welders? Import Poles

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Naval ships need welders? Import Poles

    mail slinky

    Cut-price Polish workers have been drafted in to help build Britain’s two new multi-billion-pound aircraft carriers, it emerged last night.

    Experts said it was the first time a Royal Navy shipbuilding programme has required the mass recruitment of overseas workers.

    Some of the Polish welders are paid little more than £8 an hour for the job. This may be above the minimum wage of £5.80, but it is barely half the £15 an hour paid to British tradesmen doing similar work as employees of the main contractor, BAE Systems.
    Speaking gibberish on internet talkboards since last Michaelmas. Plus here on Twitter

    #2
    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.

    Comment


      #3
      That's what happens when you stop recruiting apprentices for 15 years.
      ‎"See, you think I give a tulip. Wrong. In fact, while you talk, I'm thinking; How can I give less of a tulip? That's why I look interested."

      Comment


        #4
        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.
        "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

        Comment


          #5
          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.

          Comment


            #6
            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.
            Speaking gibberish on internet talkboards since last Michaelmas. Plus here on Twitter

            Comment


              #7
              £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.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Moscow Mule View Post
                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.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by centurian View Post
                  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.
                  Speaking gibberish on internet talkboards since last Michaelmas. Plus here on Twitter

                  Comment


                    #10
                    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?
                    Behold the warranty -- the bold print giveth and the fine print taketh away.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X