1

Harvey

Jersey local people should be given priority for work whether in recession or not. I thought the idea of people coming in to fill vacancies was when there was nobody around locally to fill them? But of course this has always been abused for friends of friends and now we have over 1,300 of our own people out of work whilst outsiders enjoy employment.

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3

Bob Hope No Hope

“ISLANDERS with five years’ residency should get priority for jobs while unemployment remains high, says former Housing Minister Terry Le Main”

I thought that 5 years residency was a requirement for employment anyway isn’t it?

I completely agree that permanant residents should always have priority ( note residents not locals )

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5

Tobias

Agree 100%, however why exclude agriculture? If I were out of work I’d rather be working on a farm then surviving on handouts, and indeed have done so in the past. Especially so if it means we’re having to import outside workers just because certain able-bodied workshies see income support as a viable alternative to getting their hands dirty.

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7

mick

yay bring back work permits for all non jersey born/qualified residents regardless where they are from,,, and don,t say its illegal because Guernsey still uses work permits

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9

HOLIDAYMAKER

Why don’t you just remove,all residents who are not jersey born,or third generation.Then sit back and watch the island return to the stone age.

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11

chris

Too right! Let’s only allow people come over here to fill the jobs that we don’t want to do ourselves and to help run our finance industry for us when WE need them to! After all plenty of us have non-quals holes that we can rent to them for £200 a week! Then when there’s a few locals out of work pack them all off back to where they come from.

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13

Mark

Hipocracy from an ex-Minister. He should have been banging the drum years ago whilst a member of the CoM, not now.

Right policy from the wrong man at the wrong time. Let us see Gorst and Ozouf push this line. The worst offeners were the States of Jersey!

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15

John Rambo

100 % agree with Terry

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17

HRMan

100% disagree! What a load of rubbish.

Jersey companies should be employing the BEST people for vacancies. If these people are Jersey locals, then great – if not, too bad.

Jersey can’t hope to achieve a highly competent workforce if employers’ hands are tied by draconian regulation.

If Jersey people are well educated and professionally trained with professional qualifications and a “world-smart” ethos then they would have nothing to be worried about competing with non-locals if the regulations were removed. But, I fear, this is not the case and it is widely known that UK people are fair better placed to face the challenges of more pressurised working environments. Employees in Jersey do have it easy compared to their UK counterparts.

And before you all scream “what do you know?” – well, I know a fair bit actually. I am a HR manager with many years experience and I’m at the coal-face of recruitment. This is the reality; I see what’s happening.

I can’t get local suitably qualified and experienced candidates for most jobs I advertise – it’s a real struggle. The quality of people who apply from the UK, well, I wish I could employ them all.

The five-year rule has led to a complacent attitude from the CVs that I see. Employees know that employers do not have a wide choice and therefore employers are forced into taking on employees who do not cut the muster. They may have jumped from pillar to post – one woman I saw had no less than 12 jobs in three years. Although, thankfully, this is not the norm, it is a real problem.

I need to recruit people who are prepared to be with our company for the long-term, it costs money to be perpetually recruiting and that has a local impact.

People should never lose sight of the fact that the Finance industry, for example, is not here to provide employment to locals – it’s here to make money. If it can’t get the skills and experience it needs from its workforce it CAN pack up and move elsewhere. Then we will all be stuffed. And yes, we will have the usual moaners that finance is everything, well, yes it is, without it the island would have nothing and no other industry will provide the lifestyle that Jersey residents have become accustomed to over the years.

Quite simply – employ the best and be the best. If the best isn’t a local, sorry, but tough.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against employing local people – but they have to be right for the job.

If it were your business, would you employ someone who was local because they were local, even if they weren’t qualilfied to do the job at hand? Or would you employ the person who has just arrived , who has got the skills and experience and who would be fantastic for your company. Ermm, I know which I would choose – it’s a no-brainer.

The message to all locals who find it hard to get a job – look at your CV, look at you, your skills, your experience and your qualifications and ask if you would employ you. If the answer is “no” then it’s time to do something about it. I would encourage all parents to get their kids off this island and work for at least five years in the UK, it’s what I will be doing with my kids.

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19

No qualies 2

I went into the pound shop to buy some SA juice and bought £10 worth. It was 3 for £2.50. The young ‘local’ behind the counter couldnt work out that 12 juices cost £10…..enuf said !

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21

Leah Holmes

Might be worth finding out how many of the unemployed people have their 5 years residency first? Also, how qualified or experienced they are? There has to be at least one who on paper looks good (degree etc) but who, in reality, cannot hold down even a basic job. A degree no longer means intelligent, it doesn’t even guarantee basic numeracy and literacy, it also says nothing of someone’s ability to work with other people, recognise authority or to be trustworthy. Surely it’s better to find out how many of the unemployed are actually employable and use that figure?

#8 Do you wish a grammatical error breakdown of your post? It’s very clear from other posts on this website that there are non-qualified people in well-paid finance posts who can’t string a sentence together so clearly it’s not just about intelligence, there has to be some nepotism (or worse) going on. And no, I don’t have my quallies and a move like that mentioned in the article would leave me no option but to get married.

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23

FB

O for the past glory days, when we had work permits for all non jersey born/qualified residents regardless where they are from

How wise were Guernsey to keep those work permits, well done Guernsey also well done for keeping housing permits

Who also brought the time period down for the right to buy a house! this also should never have changed, that would have stopped so many people coming to live/work in the Island

Then there may not have been such a shortage of jobs for local people, that there is currently.

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25

Non-xenophobe

Interesting idea, placing quallies as a prerequesite to secure employment…
As a non-member of the master race, can someone please explain the definition of residential qualifications?
Have the master race studied at length academically to obtain these priceless qualifactions? Have they indeed shown themselves to be model citizens and pillars of the community to reach the summit and claim the holy grail of qualifactions that will catapult themselves above all these annoying little thirld world nobodies who have the nerve to arrive on the boat and work for a living?
My interpretation is that qualifactions are the result of a chance reaction of sperm and ova on the catalyst island of Jersey, which gives birth to a race of morally superior (although morally bankrupt) layabouts, drug addicts, alcoholics and racists, who in any other civilised country would be totally unemployable.
So, side by side in an interview, the most suitable candidate will always lose the job to the village idiot simply because the miracle of fertilisation took place away form this despicable inhuman island.
PS … I know it’s very unlikely, but could one of you lovely Jersey folk please let me know when the boat leaves in the morning?

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27

God's Mentor

You locals make me laugh with your daft ideas & gullibility. The main employers on the island (world’s top 500 finance companies) are answerable to their shareholders not the Jersey States – you enforce them to employ every man jack local yokel and they will be offski before you can say your fathers your’s mother’s brother.

Poor old Senator Le Main is merely trying to curry favour with the majority local electorate in order to regain his prominent position at the trough due to having to resign his previous cushy housing position after being caught out trying to pull favours for a developer mate.

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29

Mark

Louise Hall (16) I have an idea – lets close down the Regulation & Undertakings Department

Not sure it would solve the problem, but on current performance it would do no harm.

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31

Tim

Can you all please stop tarring all locals with the same brush? I am local, and I have no issue with non locals having any job, in fact I support the best person for a job getting it – regardless of where they are from.

If anything, people posting with their anti-local rubbish are the racists……

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33

jersey taff

Number 7 (Mick).
Now then does that mean you are Irish ???? Do you have a work permit? Are you employed ? Are you just one of the many “Beans” that are in the pubs all day, every day ?
You are obviously as narrow minded as the other “Insular” locl people in Jersey.
Oh yes and the famous saying of the locals used to be “If you don’t like it, there’s a boat in the morning”. Obviously this does not apply any more because of the state of the ferries but that’s another story isn’t it Mick.

Read more: http://www.thisisjersey.com/2010/09/03/hunt-for-jobs-give-priority-to-residents/#comment-76356#ixzz0yV1qACy6

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35

JerseyGirl

I agree with Terry 100%
Us Jersey people that you say are lazy actually are very hard working, are well educated and still some are unemployed and are trying hard to look for employment. dont be slagging off Jersey people.we let you live on our small island that already is short of housing and you have the decency to say we are lazy… I like this island having a mixed culture just dont go moaning about us jersey people or how hard it is in Jersey. You know where the boat is.. It was your choice to come here

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37

wan

Good ole Terry – All this time in the States and never heard of the Regulations and Undertakings Law ? Mind you I am not surprised as no one abides by it. It has been free for all & lawless for many years.

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39

wan

Good ole Terry – All this time in the States and never heard of the Regulations and Undertakings Law ? Mind you I am not surprised as no one abides by it. It has been free for all & lawless for many years.

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41

local and proud

Well there’s a surprise, the majority of “non-locals” disagree with Terry. Frankly i’m split on this. HOWEVER, could someone please tell me how someone i know lands a job after living here for less than a year. The job in question being part time, term time and had NOT been advertised. I have also worked in HR in the past and totally agree that employers have the right to employ the best person for the job, but I was also qualified enough for the position mentioned and would have loved the opportunity of applying!!!!! This is where i find employment unfair.

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43

Alex

It is amazing how in every recession we see our own people suffering from unemployment yet outsiders manage to get through it all in Jersey.

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45

reality

To say that either local or non local are better/worse is a ridiculous generalisation, there are highly skilled locals and non locals alike, some with great CV’s and others without. This isn’t about heritage but 5 year residency, however earn’t the rules should be respected by employers and enforeced. The problem is large Banks on the island don’t advertise locally, they advertise within their Group with subsidised housing on offer which is clearly unfair to local candidates (5 years residency). We need transparent and clear recruitment with policies to protect and promote the island – as 27. Gods Mentors says foreign owned business on the island only answer to their shareholder (as you’d expect) and often operate to the detriment to the local island business in deference to the Share holder and wider Group.

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47

Natalie Dale

What a load of RUBBISH!

There are so many islanders who won’t do the jobs that the foreigners do because the wages are too low. But they actually get on with and take the work because they are not LAZY. Plus, they pay more for accommodation but they are willing to struggle and do the jobs that locals don’t.

I know they could just pack up and leave but
a) it’s not as simple as that once you start creating ties in the island
b)So may businesses would go under without foreigners doing the work!

And you want to talk about the black hole? It’s not foreigners causing it. It’s people having babies they can’t afford or people who won’t take on low paid jobs because they know they’re better off on income support. It’s outrageous the amount of money that is given out to people who want to have children and not work.

By the way, I am 100% local and my boyfriend does not have his 5 years. Life is HARD and everyone should be grateful for how hard they work!!!!!!!

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49

Said as Seen

It’s a pity that Senator Le Main wasn’t so keen to enforce the rule that landlords don’t put unqualified people into qualified rental accomodation, when he was in charge of Housing.

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51

liz

i don’t think some have read the article properly
ISLANDERS with five years’ residency should get priority for jobs while unemployment remains high, says former Housing Minister Terry Le Main.

Read more: http://www.thisisjersey.com/2010/09/03/hunt-for-jobs-give-priority-to-residents/#ixzz0yaUjAC6K why some have to slag of locals
No qualies 2
Posted September 3, 2010 at 5:12 pm
If you don’t want non locals here, then get the law changed that allows us here in the first place ! So you trying to tell me that Jersey people never venture off this pathetic island and take other peoples jobs.
Dan, 100% correct. The locals are a lazy useless lot, who rely on our contributions to keep them in benefits. No complaints when they take our taxes and soc sec payments. What a sad lot they are.the article has nothing to do with weather you were born in the island…
No Qualies
Posted September 3, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Yeah! right! typical racist responses, if the same local people could spell and add up correctly it might make sense to employ them, otherwise i’m afraid it’s a case survival of the fittest (or the more intelligent)

Leah Holmes
Posted September 3, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Might be worth finding out how many of the unemployed people have their 5 years residency first? Also, how qualified or experienced they are? There has to be at least one who on paper looks good (degree etc) but who, in reality, cannot hold down even a basic job. A degree no longer means intelligent, it doesn’t even guarantee basic numeracy and literacy, it also says nothing of someone’s ability to work with other people, recognise authority or to be trustworthy. Surely it’s better to find out how many of the unemployed are actually employable and use that figure?

#8 Do you wish a grammatical error breakdown of your post? It’s very clear from other posts on this website that there are non-qualified people in well-paid finance posts who can’t string a sentence together so clearly it’s not just about intelligence, there has to be some nepotism (or worse) going on. And no, I don’t have my quallies and a move like that mentioned in the article would leave me no option but to get married.well said !

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53

HRMan

@ 41 “local and proud”

About 70% of jobs in Jersey – and for that matter, all over the world – are not advertised. Most people get jobs through word of mouth, it’s not ideal but it’s a reality.

I advertise all my jobs – I want to make sure that I get the right person for the job; period. I want the best for the company I work for.

Maybe the States should stipulate that all jobs are advertised and all jobs are placed in the job centre. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work either. There’s no easy solution.

@42 Jason K Cronin: you wouldn’t get unlimited immigration, that would imply that there are unlimited jobs as well. That ain’t gonna happen!

Mark @28: Come and live in my world, come and see what I do – you’re welcome to. Get the Editor to give you my e-mail address; no problems. You will see that because of so many things, including Jersey’s self-imposed regulations via the JFSC that we HAVE to employ the best with minimum levels of experience and qualifications. It’s in complete contrast to the regulation of undertakings law.

I have also worked in commercial HR – and boy, is that tough? The wages were never minimum wage – about £7.60 (and that was 3 years ago) – but because of their manual labour nature we received one local application for every, on average, 15 applications from non-locals. And the honest truth of the matter is that the locals never lasted, they may have worked three, maybe four, weeks – then they were gone. the money was good, the benefits were good but there was always some incredible reason why they would leave.

People will have to lower their expectations of what jobs they can do during these challenging times. They may not have the skills and experience and professional qualifications that they wouldn’t have needed to have during the boom years. Unfortunately, the best are always going to get the jobs these days, so expectations need to be lowered.

It is sad, but the draconian five-year rule has perpetuated and aggravated this situation. It may have seemed like a good idea way back when, but like so many things in Jersey, it was ill-conceived and not thought through.

But to reiterate my initial point in my original post (17), the regulations protect local jobs because without them, non-locals would get jobs more or less every time.

Perhaps the best thing that Jersey could do is remove the regulation and start a “fight or flight” situation – locals can’t be mollycoddled, and that is exactly what the regulation does. Get them into the real world, it will be in the island’s best and long-term interests.

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55

Yan

Le Main’s sentiment should go without saying

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57

Leah Holmes

Recently advertised job for a well-known building company:

A friend was interviewed, the friend phoned 3 weeks later having heard nothing and was told the post had been filled. Two days later the exact same job being re-advertised!

Now this could be entirely legitimate, although it seems unlikely given the friend was told the position had been filled. Is this their way of ‘proving’ that no-one local had the required skills? If so, how many other companies are using this little trick?

It’s a waste of locals’ time to be interviewed if you already know you want someone from outside the island and it’s utterly disgraceful to treat a potential job applicant with such disrespect that you would waste their valuable time.

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59

jersey taff

Oh number 17, sounds like Shabby Internmational !!!

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61

Mark

HRMan (53) we HAVE to employ the best with minimum levels of experience and qualifications. It’s in complete contrast to the regulation of undertakings law.

You, or your employer, appear to have difficulties in coping with the local situation. Yes Jersey is different, that is why so many firm chose to locate here. For better or worse Regulation of Undertakings is local statute and should be applied.

Yes the ‘five-year rule may have been ill-conceived and not thought’, I could not agree more, but then the whole concept of the ‘finance industry’ was ‘ill-conceived and not thought’ which would probably leave you ‘HRMan’ without a job or picking potatoes.

The fact that you take 420 word to skirt around the key issue speaks volumes. Wilful blindness!

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63

Mac

@26 Flymo:

There is one specific case where you are wrong about race. A number of hotels employ Kenyan staff (who are not Caucasian): these people have been coming year after year, and of necessity returning home when the hotels close at the end of the season. Not all of them are what you would think of as typical low-wage casual staff: one I know runs a large purchase ledger, another is the maitre d’hotel of a very large restaurant.

There is no way that their skills and experience could be replaced easily. To say to them, “You can’t come back, because we’ll be putting locals into the jobs” would, I contend, be racist. It would also hurt the business in question, and it would in due course hurt the image of Jersey Tourism.

Given that, were it my call I would be questioning the legality of such a move, possibly in the European Court of Human Rights. Were Jersey to lose such a case, I suspect that the whole mess of Housing and Reg of Unds law might have to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch. Mind you, given that these laws have blatantly failed to do what they were intended to do – namely, keep housing and jobs within the reach of young Jersey people so that they aren’t forced to leave to make a living – this might be no bad thing.

Bear this in mind also: the definition of racism isn’t done on skin colour, or even ethnic origin. To prove racism it is enough that there is a perception that an action has been carried out with the motivation that someone is of a different racial or ethnic background.

A fictionalised example: a Jerseyman (Hedley) is attacked in Wharf Street by another Jerseyman, Winter. Hedley has a beard and a sallow complexion. Winter admits to attacking Hedley because he thinks Hedley is a Pakistani Muslim. Winter has therefore committed a racist attack, even though Hedley and Winter are both of the same ethnic grouping.

I regret to say that I would contend that the general tenor of both Senator Le Main’s remarks, and those of many subsequent commentators, are racist.

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65

Leah Holmes

#60 Slawek, my annoyance was at the pretense! It’s offensive to waste a local’s time if you have no intention of employing any of them, why should they use their hours coming for an interview when they don’t stand a chance anyway.

Also, I don’t agree with setting out to ONLY employ a non-local, that’s just disgusting. The salary for the post should be set and you should then employ the best person for the job!

I note that you’ve assumed that the advert was for manual labour, it wasn’t, it was a highly skilled job requiring a degree and further professional qualifications. I will be very surprised if they have sourced an employee from Eastern Europe for this post, it is more likely they have intentionally set out to employ someone from the UK.

Why should that not make people angry?

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67

Mike

No sensible employer would overlook locals who are properly experienced and qualified for a job. Makes no business sense at all to look elsewhere if the right person is on the doorstep. If you bring someone onto the island, in addition to the usual recruitment risk that a person will not suit the job (or the job suit him/her), there is hassle and the risk that he/she and/or his/her family/pets* will not like it here. So employers will go local if they can. But they so often can’t. You advertise locally, no-one appropriate, recruit someone from off-island. You do it again, no-one appropriate, you go off-island. And you do it again. And eventually you learn from your experience. You then have to put an expensive ad into the paper to show the authorities that you haven’t learnt from your experience, which Leah Holmes and others then refer to as a sham. Well it is and it isn’t. Jersey folk should motivate themselves to develop their skills, their qualifications and sometimes simply their attitude to work and we won’t then need the heavy bureaucracy.

*Four consecutive uses of a forward slash – is this a record?

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69

Slawek

65 Leah Holmes
..It’s offensive to waste a local’s time if you have no intention of employing any of them..

I agree, it is offensive, but you can be so sure that the intention was to not to employ anyone local ? Perhaps the intention was to not to employ anyone unsuitable or not committed ? In that case would you call it offensive and waste of local’s time ?

I agree even more with Mike 67: No sensible employer would overlook locals who are properly experienced and qualified for a job.

Employers do learn form their experience. If, as HRMan 53 siad, if you hire someone local few times, and each or most cases you experienced the same – employee leaves after couple of weeks – what do you expect ? That employers are idiots and keep making the same mistakes? No they aren’t, they DO learn, and they have to learn quick because they learn for their own money.

You know your friend story only from one side. Have you been to the interview with him ? Are you sure he was suitable for the job? Are you sure he expressed his full interest and commitment to get the job and keep the job ? Perhaps if you see the interview as a invisible witness your opinion about bad employer and good friend would be different.

Read once more Mike’s 57 post. He is 100% right: No sensible employer would overlook locals who are properly experienced and qualified and committed to get and keep a job.

Think what questions employers ask themselves about a candidate. Like/don’t like, local/non-local doesn’t matter for them. What matters – is the candidate fit and committed to do the job? Will he/she carry about what he is going to do, about quality of his/her work or he/she doesn’t care. Does he/she stay with me for long enough so I won’t waste my time and money or rather I will have to search for someone else in the middle of some important job?

Even in relatively simple job at construction sites quality or/and care matters. Would you hire someone to paint your home seeing from his attitude (dirty clothes, walking in your home to see the wall to paint in shoes full of dirt) that it is very likely he will make a horrible mess ?. Would you ? Would it change anything if he were local ?

What States do in Undertaking Laws is forcing employer (you) to take this dirty guy ONLY because he lived last 5 years on the Island.

What moaners above do – they force YOU to hire this dirty guy, force you to pay him from YOUR money, only because he is local, and fact that YOU will have to clean the mess later on doesn’t matter.

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71

small money

mac(63) good hedley and winter joke lol.
i did hear of soom good phlip and clarry and rozel jokes , but the are unprintable .

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73

Pip Clement

“Jersey Boy, could not have put it better myself. The new UK government are now having to try to unwind their hideously expensive welfare state, and Jersey is going to have to do the same.”

If you think that big cuts can be made just by slicing the welfare budget you are very much mistaken.
The UK cuts are going across the board and will have many surprising affects.
For instance, currently the UK runs the second largest blue water navy in the world complete with nuclear deterrent together with substantial land and air forces.
It is highly likely that the coalition cuts will mean a substantial reduction in these forces and probably more European cooperation.
Quite how this will go down in the Tory party boiler room remains to be seen!

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75

BS Deluxe

Jersey Boy

Spot on!

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77

BS Deluxe

Mac 63

If there were no jobs available for the seasonal workers to come back to then how is that racist…..or against their human rights?

If a local (or even non-local) resident can fill the role, duly applies and is successful then what is wrong with that??

Your comment suggests that the jobs should be reserved exclusively for the Kenyans in case they decide to return. Not only would that be discriminatory against everyone else, but I’m pretty sure it would be illegal (unless it was, of course, written into their contracts).

I feel “racism” and “human rights” is too often used in arguments inappropriately.

This is not a matter of racism or an abuse of human rights, in my opinion……….just common sense, to help kick start the economic recovery.

Get those out of work in work……which will in turn reduce the need for income support and/or welfare.

As I see it, the more non-residents we have coming in taking jobs which can and should be filled by those already here….then the more pressure it puts on our infrastructure and services. It means more people out of work, not paying tax and relying on benefits. This means higher taxes for those in work and a lower quality of life for almost everyone.

I am often astounded by the views of some hypocrites on these boards.

Some argue that they have come here to fill jobs which local residents cannot do (usually untrue, but if it makes them feel more superior then so be it) and then in the same breath they moan that someone has taken their jobs back “home” which is why they are here, in a place they obviously despise, against their will!!

They also forget that by being here themselves they may have taken a potential job from someone who has now been left unemployed and relying on income support….branding them lazy in the process.

Jersey is not unique……this is a vicious cycle which happens in pretty much every western society.

I for one would love to work outside of Jersey….and if I were lucky enough to get a job then you can be damn sure I’d be very grateful and would never consider condemning the local population instead.

Perhaps some of you should consider this approach….nobody is forcing you to stay here!

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79

Bean Crock

I agree with Jersey girl! We have rules just like other counties IE Australia. I think ours should be stricter though. Only people with the right qualification in the feild that is needed for the Island should have the right to get a job without the 5years residincy.
I allso think there should be a 5 year contract for non uk residents so you arive then leave after 5 years. The reason I say this is because all the money that the none UK residents make is not put back into the local economie.
We live on a beautifull Island I’m proud to be Jersey man.I Hope all none locals can aprecaite its beautie whilst being here! YOU COULD BE IN A PLACE ALOT WORST. If you dont like our rules and regulations the airport is in St Peters and the harbour is in St Helier with Planes and boats leaving dayley. Best option is the boat cus living on an Island we get fog.
Bean Crock

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81

Stormtrooper

Agree that individuals with 5 years residency should get priority when any new jobs come on the market but I wonder how many of 1250 unemployed have even looked for a job in the last 6 months ?

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83

Leah Holmes

#67 Mike, I wonder if you underestimate the ability for employees (inc. HR people) to spend ‘the company’s’ money. Trust me, if we were talking about a company where there are a handful of Directors and it’s their personal money and they keep close tabs on the hiring process then I’d totally agree with you, but sometimes it’s just some bod with a budget to spend. It was certainly that way in the shipping industry, while the guys whose money it really was were in whole other countries. It’s still just some employees spending someone else’s money and they’ll do things they wouldn’t do if it was their own money.

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85

PJG

So!
Locals are thick!
How come “every year” our youngsters outperform the UK in exam results?

The thick ones are those that come here expecting utopia and find out it’s the same as elsewhere.
You have to work hard to get good wages, not moan about how much harder you work than everybody else.
After all if you’re that clever why aren’t you rich?
Bad luck?

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87

Sensible

86 – Disgrace, coming here and stealing our jobs!!!

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89

The Frenchie

Having trawled through all of the above comments, the main point is that Applicants for any job on the Island should be employed based upon their experience and qualifications for the job and not based upon where they were born!
If Jersey wants to compete with the rest of the world they need to employ the best person for the job to ensure they remain competitive.

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91

Agnieszka

Number 89 is right.

I have studied hard over the years and if my CV look best then I should get the job. I have been here for 7 years and look forward to be being able to buy a flat when I get my housing rights.

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93

Archibald Hairytoe

Slawek,

I have no doubt that you are a good physical worker. Your grammar on the other hand, with all due respect, is not so good.

At least by employing locally qualified people first there would be better communication between those living here and thus less confusion.

The problem with employing non-qualified people is the language / communication problem. Jersey ends up a bit like Faulty Towers.

Thanks,

Archie.

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95

BS Deluxe

93 Buster

I agree, they expect us to welcome them with open arms and give them whatever they want……but when you visit their country they treat you with utter contempt.

I thought Poland would be a friendly place….boy was I wrong!

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97

Slawek

#69 Leah Holmes
Slawek, it is the fact that they lied about the position that makes me question it, I think that’s fair enough to be honest.

I agree. They should tell upfront that your friend is not fit for the job.

But does it prove that your friend hasn’t been given a chance? Or that they’ve tried to avoid Undertaking Laws ?

I also don’t agree with ‘wasting local’s time’ statement. You could equally say your friend as not fit to the job wasted employer’s time.

Please take some job in HR. Perhaps volunteer just to get experience and outlook how does it look from ‘other’ side.

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99

Red Squirrel

What happens when these poor unfortunate non-locals finally get the job they’ve been looking for, buy a house after their 11 years residency (if they can afford to) and struggle to bring up their children whilst working full time!!! Oh yeah, they’ll be complaining that their locally born children can’t get jobs because all the non-locals are being employed!!!!

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101

Junovitch

Agnieszka at 90; Does your cv really “look best”?

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103

Overpopulated

We need work permits we locals have requested this policy for years.

But business was immigrants who work for low wages.

Jobs should be available for local born people first. It is ridulous that we tax payers are paying welfare to unemployed locals AND to immigrants.

There are going to be fewer low paid jobs in fuure, as more shops and other businesses close. The available jobs should go to locals, immigrants can return home no one forced them to come to our small island.

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105

Slawek

Overpopulated 103
We need work permits we locals have requested this policy for years.

Who would take care about elderly in care homes ? Do you know how many immigrants work there ? There is always work here but not many locals are interested in it – too hard, too ungrateful.

Who would pick Jersey Royals on farms ? Or are you going to issue special visas for potato pickers ?

Not everyone can be a ‘director’ but apparently some of locals seems to think that anything less than director job is not worth bothering.

Remove all benefits, free housing – you will see very soon how unemployment among locals drops dramatically.

It is not job market, or companies increasing unemployment. It is States and their benefits policies.

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107

KneeJerk

I have no complaints about foreigners working in Jersey.

I do have complaints however about companies that are employing non locals when there are intelligent, hardworking and above all experienced and able people locally to do the jobs on offer! This happens in ALL the firms I have worked for, They will not promote internally or employ locally. Immediately getting in someone from either the UK or Europe.

This is prevalent across Finance, Legal, Trust businesses – and we see it in the SOJ – and is jobs for the boys, relatives (yes in at least two cases!) and friends.

The real galling thing is some of these people aren’t fit to do the job and end up being supported and carried by the people below.

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109

Claweki

I come to Jersey it is few years ago. I think that it is possible that people coming in should be given joobs, even if you can’t get them in our countries if you go there. My CV was bestest from other peeples so I got the joob and I don’t think that it matters that local peoples are unemployered because we can just come here and take joobs and that is all that matters, I belief

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111

Joseph

We all used to do the jobs which (quote) “no one wants to do” when we were younger. They were fun, the pay wasn’t bad and we were all in the same boat. Now, it is different, with a lot of the places where I used to work full of immigrant workers. Word is, when a member of a particlar nationality makes it to foreman, he will see to it that only his countrmen get jobs. This should be stopped. I know many local youngsters who would dearly love to have the kind of work which I did but they can’t because they won’t employ locals. It is a problem which is widely known but no-one will do anything about it. I feel that the position will change once an anti-discrimination law comes in. It will then be illegal to treat jersey people as second class citizens.

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113

English Bob

103 Overpopulated – Jobs should be available for local born people first. It is ridulous that we tax payers are paying welfare to unemployed locals AND to immigrants

This is not what is being proposed, read the story, Priority is to be given to residents with at least 5 years residency. That is those that have fulfilled the conditions of the regulation of undertakings law. If you have paid tax and social into the system long enough to be working here legitimitely then you are a bona fide resident. I’m assuminbg that you know the difference between a resident and a local, a resident lives here, a local does not necessarily.

If you don’t like it vote for the law to be changed to ban non locals from entering the island, of course you would have no farm workers, hotel staff, finance workers with any appreciable qualifications, it would be like the stone age.

The problem I have with locals with your attitude is that you will take all of the benefits we immigrants bring but you want none of the disadvantages – can’t have it both ways my friend.

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115

Ninbaku

Well,well,well.It`s all coming to the surface now isn`t it!
Great debate this one, or should I say we are at long last seeing what people really think. Quite frightening in many ways.Now let me go back a few short years – the economy is booming (turned out to be built on sand ) so we import cheap labour which is in plentiful supply,as communism states collapse and the EU admits the world and his wife into the fold.
Jersey employers and landlords cannot believe their luck, a licence to print even more money!
The population in general is happy to talk about the cultural diversity this brings and sits back thinking how great it is to be so tolerant.
Then BANG,the consumer society starts to fall apart – jobs evaporate,food prices rise and people start to struggle, in many cases,really struggle. So we need someone to BLAME don`t we ? I won’t bore you further with a list as it is far too long. It does however mainly consist of the most vulnerable in our society and not those who have profited and exploited to the maximum.
The Government is secretly delighted as we fall out amongst ourselves, as it deflects attention from their total and continued incompetence.
They are struggling because they don’t know what to do.
Unity is strength

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117

Archibald Hairytoe

Slawek,

Communication is the most important tool in any workforce. Whether you’re pulling spuds out of the ground, or organising the Red Arrows to do a technical air display, your employer needs to be able to communicate with you.

In any culture you will find people who cannot be bothered with work. More so in this country, where, often you get more money off the government for not working.

I recently read that a family of 4 living in States accomadation takes home £31,000 net per year, which is approximately £600 a week. No wonder they drive around in brand new cars and have plasma T.Vs and new clothes.

After 12 years you are entitled to have this too.

I think most people in Jersey are aggresive and angry toward immigrants because they don’t want them to steal from the pie.

I for one will see out my 12 years and then retire, at a relatively young age, to States sponsored living. I’l have some children and let the States pay me for the liberty. I quite fancy a new Audi and I’ve always wanted to live in one of the nice estates you get to live in.

Archie

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119

buster

Slowek 111
Lets hope the job doesn’t include writing English.

Jersey and the UK seem to be the places that people want to emigrate to, Why? On the way they could have stopped in any number of EU countries, but on they go. We really must be something special.

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121

Mark

English Bob (112) The problem I have with locals with your attitude is that you will take all of the benefits we immigrants bring but you want none of the disadvantages – can’t have it both ways my friend.

English Bob, try repeating your statement to yourself in the mirror, you will find that it too rings true.
“The problem I have with our immigrant attitude is that we will take all of the benefits you locals offer but we immigrants want none of the disadvantages – can’t have it both ways can we.”

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123

Another John

“107. john
Posted September 8, 2010 at 7:06 pm
hero!!

i are a jersey been and i batteling to find job caws to meny other people from off the islands come and take it frtst. whies that.. its grate for this 5 years thingy.

im prouwd to be a jersy.”

First you should learn to write, and after that start looking for a job. Look on gov.je almost all the jobs are for persons with 5 years residency

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125

El Thicko

115 Bean Crock – this must be a wind up, I counted 17 grammatical errors but the fact that you spell Terry with a capital T suggests that your understanding or English grammar is much better than you would have us believe.

You and Slowek are deliberately winding us up trying to make us think the locals are thicker than they actually are. Mate the locals couldn’t possibly be any thicker than they are.

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127

Spelling Bee

125 – Agnieszka
Polish people are better ( qaulified )than people from UK because they work harder to get somewere in life. Jersey people from school
( dont ) work as hard as us and ( thats ) why we get and deserve job ( preferense ). I work in finance and I want to be a manager soon

If you learn to spell and punctuate there’s every chance you will become a manager

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129

mick

make the housing 30 years and the time in the island 15 years before outsiders can get proper employment and if they don,t like it they can stay in their own country and yes that does include people from 100 miles north of here

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131

seawitch

Local jobs should be for local people. Our daughter has qualified as a teacher and has stuck to the education dept criteria ie get experience then come back HOME! Which she has done for the last 3 yrs,but guess what, no jobs. All taken by non-local staff on lifetime contracts, “shoed in” by their pals in education. These people have no interest or knowledge in teaching local history and customs along side national/worldwide sylibus. Remember you readers through your taxes etc helped pay for her education. She WANTS and SHOULD be able to come back and repay her debt to her Island and you and me as tax payers.

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133

Private Parts

121 Overpopulated – I remember Jersey before finance was allowed to get too big, it was a better place.

My father and grandmother remember it before finance and people got along fine, without the massive population we have now, without the huge levels of welfare, with the large numbers of cars without St Helier being turned into a slum.

I could go on …. Don’t worry you will…

Before finance we had a tourism and agricultural industry, both of which are now virtually non existant, we’d be dead without finance as well our government know.

Ah the good old days, cholera, diptheria, incest – why did it all have to end.

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135

Leah Holmes

#97 Slawek, if you are even more qualified than is required in the advert then you are NOT wasting the company’s job by applying for it! That’s pretty simple.

You are taking a very rose-tinted view of the way employment works. I have worked in HR and so I know exactly some of the nonsense that goes on. Also, recommending a painter is not the same as recommending an office worker. I would not ask someone in England to recommend me a painter who lives in England while I want the work done in Jersey!

As for nepotism, my point was that the person (friend or family) they bring in is NOT always that good at the job, and I’d be extremely surprised if there wasn’t an interviewee that was better. Sometimes people, especially managers, bring in a ‘yes man’ who won’t show up their own inadequacies! These things happen in big companies and they happen rather a lot.

No need to take offense, I’m not suggesting that a foreign worker is automatically worse (I am a foreign worker) but you do seem to be assuming that the foreign worker is automatically better and that isn’t true. They may be, they may not, but the person already living here is already living here and so there is less risk employing them IF they meet the requirements of the job.

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137

josh

Iv’e read this whole article and I thought I would add my bit as a South African by saying that the Jersey beans can go get knotted!! As for the rest of you pointing out people’s spelling mistakes, lets not get childish. We are all on this island and its a beautiful place, I don’t want to see it becoming like the UK or even worse…SA.

ps. i love the beans..they make me laugh.

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139

Rudolph Hooker

Get rid of the locals and the island will be fine.

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141

Lech

I think you local persons owt to be grateful of us polish as we helped to keep you free.

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143

Dutch Cap

At least we know one thing; this forum is full of jokers, comedians, troublemakers and people with chips on their shoulders. What Le Main says should go without saying, surely, apart from simply saying that the law should be enforced (and that is all he is saying) it is also a matter of common sense, particularly with local unemployment!?

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145

Slawek

buster 105
Before the finance industry took over the Island and distorted the economy, locals were quite happy to do the jobs you mention, but presented with an opportunity that probably doubled their wages overnight, many of them took it.

You should then answer 103 Overpopulated (“We need work permits we locals have requested this policy for years”), not me. He/she seems to be a turkey calling for Thanksgiving day.

Will bringing back work permits make locals quite happy to do the jobs I’ve mention ?

Will it really help island economy ? Does ONLY business wants employers who works for low wages ?

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147

dave

Why point out spelling mistakes when it is fairly obvious that the mistakes have been made deliberately by the usual trolls to give the impression that the posters are foreign or uneducated locals?

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149

P De Freitas

Luckily we got States Housing and benefits when we had children so being in or out of work now is not a problem for us. I preferred part time as I got older anyway.

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151

Lisa

As a local (born here) I just want to say that we are not all lazy good for nothings who do not want to work.

Myself and 3 of my friends worked hard to get A Levels, all went off to the UK to do degrees (and not in ‘Mickey Mouse’ subjects before anyone asks) and came back to the island to find work.

Myself and 1 friend have found work over here and are both trying to increase our qualifications while working, one went to England as she could not get a job over here and another cannot find a full time job even though she graduated a year ago. She is taking on zero hour contracts while still looking for a full time job.

So the locals are lazy then, and uneducated? Maybe a few are, but that is the same everywhere. Just please don’t presume everyone who is local or a resident (although apparently it is just the locals according to this thread) is like that.

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153

squashed

Wow, there appears to be a lot of hatred going on here – particularly coming from non locals who seem quite adamant that local people are thick and lazy.

Some locals maybe in this bracket – as I’m sure some non locals are. Some locals also have excellent CV’s and wish to settle down and purchase a property. Please do not forget about those people. You need work permits etc to get in most places – perhaps Jersey needs to adopt something similar. This will ensure the best people get the jobs.

The issue here is that there is a recession. There simply are not as many jobs as there was. There is no control over how many people come into Jersey – this could actually help stabilise the population a bit until things improve. If they ever improve.

Things are not good in Jersey at the moment. Insults based on sterotypes are not helping this issue at all.

This proposed system may help to weed out the ‘lazy’ locals who reep the rewards of benefits. Maybe.

If there are any errors in grammer, spelling etc, it is due to the fact that I am typing this extreemly quickly during my late lunch. I am a very hard working local person with a great CV, excellent qualifications and (luckily) a good job.

It’s tough out there at the moment. Silly insults based on stupid cliches really should be avoided.

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155

jenny

Slawek-why don’t you try moving to Australia or Canada and see how you get on in the local job market. Jersey doesn’t owe you anything and neither does anywhere else. There is only one reason why you’re in Jersey and one reason only and that’s money.It’s a big world out there and you’re free to go somewhere else if you don’t like your present situation.

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157

miss know it all

Hey I agree with Bean Crock..
you work, you dont scroung benefits, I like you also have a good job, what annoys me is people saying we are lazy, what a dump this island is.. they wanted to come here, and as may state, try to get jobs and then live off benefits.. obviously jersey is better than their home country, cant blame them as if they think Jersey is a dump I sure hate to think the place they grew up in.. poor poeople.. they are just jealous of us locals as we have grew up in this beautiful island they call a dump.

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159

Rudolph Hooker

@156 BS Deluxe

I think you’ll find that the free Poles had quite a lot to do with our liberation. Look up how many fought during the Battle of Britain and how many division fought after D-Day in and around Caen.

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161

Rudolph Hooker

BS Deluxe;
Who is showing their ignorance?
The Free Poles fought along side the RAF in the battle of Britain and if you do a little research I think you’ll find at least a division at the D-Day landings and a few at Arnhem, need I go on?

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163

BS Deluxe

159, 160, 161

Perhaps you can tell me how many poles liberated Jersey then.

I never mentioned anything about D-Day or Battle of Britain…..try reading properly!

I was talking Jersey, specifically, to Lech…..as he was talking specifically about Poles keeping Jersey folk free. However, if you would like to expand the subject then I would argue it was Jersey folk who actually helped to keep the Poles free by stepping in to help fight the cause when they were invaded.

Jersey was not free until May 9th 1945!

I am sick of some of the Polish on these forums slagging off this beautiful island and it’s inhabitants.

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165

Slawek

mick 130
my wife is local and only works in the holiday season,, the poles that only work the season can claim back all the tax they pay,, why can,t my wife do the same????? someone who knows please tell me

Do you work ? Do you pay paxes together with your wife ? Look at your annual return – you will get your answer.

No one gets his/her tax back because he or she is Polish. Tax is returned if you are on low income. Go and find a job for 6.20ph and you and your wife will be able to claim your taxes too.

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167

Dave

No 163.

Is your view of history really so simplistic?

Jersey was Liberated as a result of Germany being defeated. In order, the countries who made that possible were Russia, USA, Britain, Poland. How do you think Jersey would have been liberated if Britain had lost the Battle of Britain (which was a very close run thing) and had been invaded and occupied?

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169

BS Deluxe

166 & 167 Dave

Please put it into perspective and stop twisting my comment with some random “Wikipedia facts”.

I am not and have never mentioned the whole of WW2 or any major turning points which may have changed the course of the war. I explained in post 163 that I was only referring to the liberation of Jersey…yet you persist to twist my comments to suit your argument. Please understand that….YOUR ignorance embarasses me!!

Again, I’ll try to explain my comment to Lech. I’ll type slower this time so you may understand

Lech said “I think you local persons owt to be grateful of us polish as we helped to keep you free.”

In my opinion, this implies we should be solely grateful to the Poles because if it wasn’t for them we would not be free…..it implies they single handedly saved Jersey from the nazis.

I find this hugely disrespectful and insulting considering mine and plenty of other “locals” family members fought and died in the war to help free Poland (amongst other countries). I was merely pointing this out. When I said that Poles had absolutely nothing to do with our liberation….I was referring to the actual event ,i.e., landing on Jersey on 9th May 1945 to free us from the Germans.

“Force 135 had been established mid-1944 and was tasked with the responsibility of recapturing the Islands, removing the German threat and restoring order in the event of a German surrender. It drew together various units, then based in the UK, and comprised a range of services; among their numbers being a good few Channel Islanders. The combatant arm of Force 135 was largely composed of units of the Royal Artillery, whilst a vast range of support services, including the vital inclusion of the Royal Navy, rounded off the Force’s overall complement.”

No mention of Poles….

I will be grateful to the Poles for their efforts when they show some respect and realise they were not alone in liberating Europe…..Jerseymen and women fought too.

I will also be grateful if certain fools on these forums who jump half way into a discussion and completly distort the subject matter….if they thought before commenting (or at least looked at the content leading up to the comment).

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171

Born Warrior

Slawek 162.

As far as I can understand from your post, you believe that immigration keeps services high and prices low.

I must admit, that on the surface that is the way it seems. However, if we dig deeper, it becomes quite clear that all we are doing is pushing today’s economic problems into the laps of future generations.

Uncontrolled immigration ‘unbalances’ the economy of the host nation and I hope the following statistics (released by the Office for National Statistics – UK) help you to see why.

The figures for 2010 showed an increase of 188,000 people in work in the UK between April and June compared to January and March.

However, the number of UK-born people employed during this period increased by only 41,000 whereas those born outside the UK rose by 145,000.

During the same period in 2009, the number of UK-born people with jobs fell by 15,000 while the number for those born outside the UK went up by 114,000.

The report indicates that roughly 4 out of 5 new jobs went to immigrants over the past year in the UK. Unfortunately, the statistics don’t tell us anything about the new jobs taken by immigrants, nor do they tell us anything about the job conditions or pay…but you can bet your bottom dollar that the pay is low.

And when you consider that an immigrant who works for a low wage has absolutely no chance of paying for the cost he creates as a citizen, you suddenly realise that someone at some point will have to pay for this shortfall.

Therefore, the better service and lower prices – which you believe we enjoy today thanks to immigrant workers – will be paid for by our children and their children and their children…

P.S. I apologize for doubting you, I should have realized you were Polish with a moniker like Slawek – any reference to the politician/activist?

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173

debbie

i recently moved to jersey from the U.K, to take a post that no ‘jersey’ person was suitable to fill. in my short time here, i have noted how narrow minded and self absorbed most jersey people are. i am not suprised that jersey have to employ people from off the island – we have a broader outlook, and more common sense. Most jobs now adays look for people who can problem solve, save money etc.. people i have come across here have no idea how to look outside the box. Jersey needs to take its rose coloured glasses off and get in the real world!

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