Local Economy

[Fritz]

I had a little walk through , "The Metropolis", today, (Dropped daughter off at hairdressers in preperation for back to school tomorrow), and was quite amazed at the ,"Bargains", to be had.

In one shop I saw a jacket reduced from £149.00 to £49.00 and ,in another, an armchair reduced from £647.00 to £249.99!!!

Bargains?

My immediate thought was, "Dirty robbing bassas are now selling stuff at proper prices".

I didn,t see any busy shops though except one.

The Social Security Shop in La Motte St. was doing a roaring trade. Folk were in and out of there all afternoon.

What were they selling that other retailers were missing?

[Dylan]

Discount Poles? 40% off workers?

[man in the street]

social will need some more chairs, if there is any truth , in the rumour, that halifax are laying off a load of staff, and wonder if rbs have finnished with  slimming down over here(loads going in the uk).
 half the time i think that the shops mark it up, to mark it down.
 the price of stuff, is unreal, even if i had the money for it, i could not allow myself to pay the daft prices.
 also i dont think a half a million for a house is a snip .

[Fritz]

One of the guys working with us had to pop in to the SS today to get a new card because his employer had lost his.
He waited in a two hour queue behind folk being issued with new ones!!!!!!

What the feck is going on?

We have 1400 +, locally qualified people unemployed and they are still dishing out new SS cards!!!!!

Something needs sorting.

The , "Financial Stimulus Fund", is being used by local companies to employ more foreign labour instead of taking folk off the unemployed list.

Some serious ,"Arse-kicking", is required down at La Motte St.

[Calimachon]

Aren't some firms doing work in Jersey advertising up north for Polish workers?

Says it all! Eh?

Cali

[man in the street]

 very sad news fritz, myself as a local chap expect one day  to be there myself, if things go on the way they are .
 maybe i will become an exibit at the maratime museum, dressed in clothing of the time making wicker lobsterpots.

 some will now, never leave income support.

[Fritz]

Aren't some firms doing work in Jersey advertising up north for Polish workers?

Says it all! Eh?

Cali

They have been for the last five years.

[man in the street]

most of us know, that the five years  rule is not policed it was  a carrot thrown to local s, well now we have many  young and fit for breeding ,. doing nothing all day( i do remember how i passed the time s of unemployment when young)  those who complain about those on income support and taxation,  take note here, the young can only get social housing, after poping a couple of kids , think about it, they will not see £450, 000 for a home as their jobs are going to the next arrival.maybe even the young have worked out ,that , income suport is the way to stay in the island they were born into. if you think we are paying enough taxes now , wait, i hope iam wrong here, in my ramblings, but it cost less than the three short stories we got from some leach of the system , sometime ago, who left and went home to aussie(i think) with £250,000 in the bank.

[Fritz]

If you want a peep at the future for Jersey watch, "The Scheme", on BBC1 at 11:05 tonight.
Great comedy, until you actually consider that they are all real people, living what have become ,"Normal", lives.
Parents who dont or have never worked popping out children who grow up seeing a life on benefits as normal.
A tragic comedy that Jersey is heading for if someone doesn,t take the unemployment ,and immigration problem seriously.

[man in the street]

i go to work , live on a housing estate(full rent ,tax +ss) .
 to be honest,  in temps past, we have been like a episode of "shameless"
i belive you are correct fritz, the amount of young unemployed, is sad, i know  those who want to get a head, should motovate themselves. but there is not much for them.
 having siad that the  employmet agency ,near fortuna and been around the world , has had a sign outside, looking for site labour for threedays now , and may be still there tommorow .
 if i was not working i would go there untill a better thing came along.
 touble is some young people, have no transport , not even a push bike , as for the bus forget it , its a bad route to say the least.
 benifits look better.
 even on radio four this morning, there was a uk charity , talking about , how they are dealing with peole , who they normaly would not .
 for example , working on a low wage , but can no longer make ends meet.
 it did make me think that , yes there are others worse off than me and mine .

[Fritz]

I have always considered what might become of Jersey,s youth, (I,m not locally born, but have lived here for 27yrs), if immigration were not curtailed.
I think using the housing laws is an appalling way to control immigration.
Like any other country, (Well we like to think we are), we should quite simply vet folk who wish to come here and establish whether their particular skills are required at any particular time.
I have just taken on a lad, (Two were supposed to turn up last week.The other one is probably still under his duvet, where he can remain as far as I,m concerned), on a five week
unpaid, work experience/placement programme.
The very fact that this lad has agreed to get out of his bed and go to work without being paid for five weeks says enough for me.(He will be paid, but I,ve not told him yet. I,m putting his wages aside and will give him a cheque when he signs his full-time contract of employment next month).
I,d have given him a full time job, even if he were fecking useless.
Lucky for me, he,s quite a bright lad and I will be able to train him up and send him to college where he can gain professional qualifications.

[man in the street]

  i watched "the scheme" last night. a grim  programe, and can say that our housing estates are better to look at than that, we have  recovering smack heads, and those with drink problems.
 the pop the kids out and never lift a finger, , we are 50% there .
 i could not agree more that we need a new type of population control,  a visa system , as you say fritz ,are your skills needed ?, do you have a record?
 far far bigger places , will ask these questions  before you touch the terra firma of that place.

 the sign outside  the employment agency is still out 3pm to day , for site labour. and it is true that you can progress from this starting position.job seekers should be paid to parents  if the young person is living at home.
 failure to turn up for work or interveiws, payment stops.

[Fritz]

I have actually had folk, (not just youngsters), refusing to take up positions because the job is too far away!!
On an Island the size of a feckin lounge carpet!!!

Good grief.

[Chevalier Blanc]

They have to bring in work permits. Once the job that they came into the Island to do is finished then off you go.
What happens is you get married to a local girl and bob's your uncle you are here to stay. They did talk about this situation and came up with the idea that if you got divorced then you lose your quals but they thought that might be a little over the top and not politically correct. The time has come to really sort this out. Jobs for the local first. In Egypt when labour is wanted they have to go to the local people first and only then can they use outside labour if they do not have enough men.

[Fritz]

Dandara got round the ROU years ago by simply placing ads in the rag looking for ,"Local tradesmen".

Any tradesman replying to the ad was quoted minimum wage, and promptly told Dandara to shove it.

Dandara go back to ROU stating that they have been advertising for local labour for 3-4 weeks and are unable to recruit suitable labour locally and are granted permission to bring in cheap labour from anywhere.

Labour arrives from ,"Anywhere", and works for 5 years.

Dandara apply to build monstrosity in the middle of Parade Gardens/ Royal Square/ St Thomas,s Church?

If permission is not granted, Dandara will have to send a couple of hundred, 5 year qualified immigrants to the benefits office.

It couldn,t happen