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Monday 28th February 2011, 3:00PM GMT.
Dominic Jones, director of Jersey Pottery
YOUNG Islanders are shunning work in Jersey’s hospitality industry and forcing firms to recruit foreign labour – despite record levels of unemployment.
Last week worrying new figures revealed that at least 1,390 Islanders were now out of work – including 320 teenagers.
But despite the massive rise in unemployment, hospitality firms are struggling to find Jersey-born people who want to work in their industry.
Dominic Jones, director of Jersey Pottery, said that only about ten per cent of the 110 people currently employed in the firm’s catering section were local.
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This may be a controversial comment but I know a couple of friends (not only teenagers) who wouldn’t want to work in Hospitality for exactly that reason! Some people are worried that they would be working within a group of people that they cannot communicate with.
I work at the co-op so work with a lot of immigrants, personally it doesn’t bother me as a person is a person in my opinion but I will still help them if they are unsure of the English language. Though I know other people don’t cope too well.
It’s a lose/lose situation for the industry from what I can see.
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This is a sad story , i worked in a few hotels and bars when i was a teenagers , not sure when this ” Im to good for that ” attitude came from but it needs to stop , and i damn well hope that those out of work are not getting a penny from the states if they are refusing paid work , even if you do not want to stay in this industry its better to have some cash in you pocket till something you fancy better comes along , also i think folk hold there head up a bit better if you have any sort of jon than those who are out of work for months chasing there ideal postion
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That’s because the wages are dreadful, usually close to the legal minimum wage.
Don’t aspire to own a home nor raise a family, forget holidays other than when you are laid off ( October to April ) and as to pensions forget it !!
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Anyone who doesn’t ‘live in’ (in shared accommodation of varying quality) will struggle to find the money to cover rent, bills and the commute on the min wage that hospitality pays.
Factor in the fairly poor career prospects (including training offered by the JHA that is about a decade behind the curve) and working conditions (split shifts anyone?) offered by an industry that has traditionally and happily relied on cheap imported labour and you can see why the kids aren’t exactly leaping at the ‘opportunity’.
Wasn’t this the message in 2010 as well?
Jersey Hospitality was tasked (and funded) with improving this situation over a year ago – as part of the initiatives like Advance to Work. One struggles to see how they have progressed or come up with solutions to this conundrum in the past 12 months..
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So local people don’t want to work awful hours, for minimum wage in often appalling working conditions, go figure!
This is just an excuse by the hospitality industry, when it is in their best interest to recruit foreign labour for minimum wage and will put up with whatever is thrown at them so they can stay in Jersey
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And why would youngsters want to work when they can sign on to the dole/social and layabout all day long? Whilst us taxpayers pay for their lifestyles.
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Oh, yeah:) Just what I commented on a prev. topic.
Jersey born see the devil in every Eastern-European,”immigrants” (which has a very pejorative meaning these days)
yet JP struggling to find Jersey youngsters who are willing to work.
(I bet in many cases they are tried then kindly asked to leave – people not conditioned to work won’t like to)
Still much easier to become a “mom” (what kind of anyway…) at 16-17, a multi-mom at 18 and then live off on welfare for the rest of their life.
In many countries, like it or not, this class is called: gypsies. They have the “culture” of breeding uncontrollably, for the sake of pumping the most money out of the states.
I think, the gypsy is not only an ethnic group. It became a mentality.
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I am aware that a number of teenagers live in States accomodation rent free and have £90 a week to cover drinking. Jersey needs to bring in a hard line approach to those who shun work for no reason other than they are “above” the available work. Head up to Liverpool and see how few foreign workers they have as supply and demand dictates that there isn’t a need for a large external work force.
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Sounds like this kinda work is just too hard for the locals to cope with….
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Hmmmm, sounds like the young locals are scared of hard work.
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It is NOT about chasing an ideal, it is about feeling marginalised and disadvataged in what should feel like “home” and what ought to be a supportive environment for young people starting out, Carl Marx.
Clearly you are no longer a teenager and so have the benefit of years and the additional confidence that brings. It is admirable that you want to help other not proficient in English but that is not the point.
I agree with the comment above from Jersey Teenager.
Rightly or wrongly, the fact that the hospitality industry recruits almost EXCLUSIVELY foreign nationals IS the reason why few young local Islanders want to be involved.
No one likes to feel in a minority and to not understand the language around you and to feel this way in “your own home” is frankly intolerable for most.
I have two youngsters of this sort of age and one is finding it a challenge to make a way in this employment market as it stands but does not want to consider hospitality for this very reason.
When is it so hard to understand that people feel challenged and even threatened by being a “stranger” in their own home?
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Why are there no local takers? Much the same as in the UK with low paid, perceived poor career choices, being avoided like the plague.
Finance workers aren’t likely to touch jobs they perceive to be below them as they have got used to an easier ride with higher pay, bonuses and the likes.
I can’t see a finance worker digging spuds when they are out of work. The ego wouldn’t survive the neighbours tut tutting.
The bottom line is most locals will not work for peanuts. Pay a decent wage and you will get more takers.
The employers know they can get away with paying poor wages as the goverment has an open door policy which allows them to bring in cheap labour to fill in the gap.
As per the figures I would put money on this being underplayed.
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try paying decent wages. You can’t expect people to live in this Island on the minimum wage. And being a qualified chef who worked in the industry you are treated like dirt and thought of as subserviant. No wonder you can only get poor immigrants to work for you.
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Maybe the reason locals don’t want these jobs, is because they can earn more on benefits and they don’t like the rates of pay. Never mind I have often found the work ehtics of foreign nationals is far superior than that of many Brits. Now that is controversial…..now let’s wait for the riposte for that comment.
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Why work for low wages when you can claim income support at a much higher rate?
Sort this out and the problem is solved. simples.
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It is the firms who are forcing to recruit foreign labour because of the cost, it’s cheaper than local that all and that is why so many foreigners are in this industry because local wont work for that amount of money and for this many hours.
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Is this actually something unusual for the island ? There are 49 candles on my Birthday Cake this year and I can always recall a great enployment of immigrant workers in the hotel and hospitality trade in one way or another throughout the island history. The Italians and Greeks arrived first, followed by the Spanish and then the Portuguese. Even many of the Hotel staff were from those countrys, along with many mainland Uni students who would spend their summers in Jerseys working in Hotels in live-in positions as waitresses or chambermaids during Jerseys boom years of tourism, the bar staff were mostly irish or scots ! Growing up on the beach at St Clement, the beaches were full of latins who worked around that area. So why has this news release come as any suprise as I predict that a good 75% of these immigrants are doing the jobs that nobody locally is willing to do ! I myself in the early 80′s tried to work in the Hotels for money to put towards my Uni expences, but found out that most hoteliers were only willing to employ people who were live in, so i ended up working 2 seasons working the evenings at Woolworths.
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To Jonathan – what do you recommend, have several kids and then live off income support, achieving nothing in your life?
All the Italians who came to Jersey in the 50s and 60s didn’t do too badly did they and why? Because they were prepared to work.
A teenage relation of mine who has hardly been in employment since leaving school managed to get a job as a kitchen porter in a leading local hotel. He left after two days saying “I’m not working for a ***** Pole” – the Pole he referred to was the Head Chef who spoke better English than the Jersey boy.
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When you don’t want to work everything can be used as an excuse !!! What a joke !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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You have your whole life for your dreams & aspirations – if you want to work, take what’s paying ANYTHING. I served burgers & ice creams while working out a career – I needed money, I worked & I’m not embarrassed to tell people now. It will go FOR a job applicant that they got off their whatsits, not against.
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Jonathan # 3. I imagine you are right – why work when you can probably get more on benefits and hand outs?
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Very low wages and seasonal….explains it all as far as I’m concerned. Great if you don’t want to own a home etc…
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Young people are so lazy those days, they spend days in front of TV, games etc. AND EXPECT TO BE PAID FOR IT! If they refuse paid work, they should not receive a penny form States.
Although it sounds strange, maybe even awful, I am grateful for this economic downturn. I believe that this will help wake people. I think youngsters are starting to realize how easy they have had it. I hope that all people -regardless of their background – will start working together. Hospitality is a great place to start working life & it’s more relaxing than corporate ladder. It will equip kids with skills for life. That is, if it is not below their dignity…
I don’t understand this self-pity; they are destined to become losers.
I never took any benefits and I am very proud of it. I refuse to pay higher taxes when young & healthy refuse work
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(3) johnathan, agree, never buy a home ect.
and getting laid off at the end of the season.
when i worked in seasonal jobs, i used to manage to save,and to go to asia for the winter.
mind you i was under my parents roof. not a hope with todays rents.
boy do i wish i could live like that again .
travel by bus, stay in flea pits, mosquito bites,
tropical disease.
however some cash is better than none.
highlands needs to produce qualified ,plumbers , electricans and alike, in the uk , train for jobs, can place the newly trained in a job , so they say.
if having a clean passport and a crime free record, the world is a young persons oyster, as after a certain age the doors start to close around the world ,unlike jersey where the open door to many ,flaps around in the wind.
a young and able man that i know , has just returned from a worldly travel, seen something else, other than the 12 parishes, and has walked back into employment.
and no i cannot afford a pension.
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What baffles me is why the States are wasting money on teaching people how to use computers, when there are clearly so few office vacancies around to apply for! Maybe they should be running courses on working in hotels and bars instead!
It looks like the finance industry in Jersey is now dead and buried, along with tourism, so guess people will have to go back to picking spuds over here!
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To all those saying the wages are far too low.
What would you say is a fair wage for inexperienced waiter/bar person?
Do you realy think that it should be job for life so you should afford to buy a house from it?
Or should it be only a job for a year or two when you get some working experiece and decide what to do in your life?
I think the low wages are not actually a problem as most of the young people still live with their parents. I think the issue is the attitdue.
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Our benefits system is a joke and local youngsters and single mothers are taking the mickey out of taxpayers. That is the main reason why unemployment figures are higher than normal in Jersey (although still low by international standards)
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We need to remove this reliance on the ‘social’ wage by having it as a temporary measure only.
Of course Jersey needs J-Cat’s to fill the hole left by locals due to their skill shortages, and lack of desire to get a real job, when all they do all day is go drinking in the park, or laying on their bums.
IF we stop the reliance on unemployment benefits, we might just see an improvement – Ozouf in this regard is too left-wing in his approach here.
If Ozouf shoudl be criticised on anything it is this – whislt he has done a good job keeping the finance industry ticking over, and a strong Jersey economony, he is too soft on bludgers!
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#25 There are some brilliant Jersey young people who do these jobs and do them excellently. There are also some who don’t last even a day because there are lazy. Again, of course, there are those who are made to feel very unwelcome by predominantly foreign colleagues (in some cases getting stuck in the middle and two different groups of nationalities constantly argue with each other). I can’t blame those ones, it is extremely detrimental to your health to spend any length of time in such a hostile environment!
There are, of course, immigrants who do these jobs brilliantly. But then there are immigrants who I’ve seen not last a day in hospitality because it was ‘beneath them’ or in other cases because they were too lazy.
Easy to assume it’s just the Jersey young people, but when push comes to shove it’s all nationalities! And it’s not just young people either.
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Charles >
To Jonathan – what do you recommend, have several kids and then live off income support, achieving nothing in your life?
Dungbeetle >
Jonathan # 3. I imagine you are right – why work when you can probably get more on benefits and hand outs
Charles and Dungbeetle, i never once suggested that you should live on benefits, quite the opposite.( my post #3 )
If you read the article it asks the question WHY people don’t work in the hospitality industry. My point explains WHY !
There are so many better career choices out there – and i don’t mean living on benefits.!!!!! – read the article.
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First of all just a quick observation.
Would Mr Jones be in this trade himself, if it was’nt for the fact that the Jersey Pottery is a family business to which has been born into….. bet there are lots of young job seekers would like a piece of that.
But anyway, why should these young people, who have attained the results at school, be pushed into the so called hospitality buisness. Are’nt they allowed to have a choice, or, do they have to take a low paid job just to satisfy the likes of some of the previous comentators. RT being a point in case.
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I am a manager at a local hotel and have recently received over 140 applications for just 2 jobs and it is sad to say that less than 30 were from Jersey. I understand that to many young people the hospitality industry may seem a thankless, low paid job, (this is not actually the case) but surely even if you don’t plan to make a career of it any job is better than no job! We would always rather employ locals, but the simple fact is that with a ratio of nearly 4 to 1 the odds are that the more suitable candidates will be from further afield! And young Jersey people should consider that an experience of dealing with the public face to face will only improve your appeal to future employers in any field!
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Here’s a suggestion which many people have already hinted at, why don’t we set up a system where by the longer you are out of work the less money you get from the states. Obviously it would be incredibly harmfull and probably increase petty crime to just cut people off but why not reduce the benefits by something like 10% for every month someone refuses to get off there sofa and find work. There is work out there if people are willing to suck it up and take what is available. I have friends who have lost jobs in the finance industry due to the economic problems who are now turning to the hospitality industry to keep them going. If it’s not below them how can it be below people who have been on benefits for years???
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In addition what some people fail to consider is that the one part of the hospitality industry where it is hugely beneficial to have an employee who’s first language is English is reception, and for those young people hoping to find future employment in the finance or office sector there is no better starting point as you not only gain experience of various administrative and bookkeeping skills you also have to deal with a high level of face to face and telephone enquiries which will only benefit your communication skills for future office work!
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Charles (#16)
I think that’s exactly what Jonathan (#3) prefers – why should people go to work when they can stay at home watching Sky TV and living off Social Security?
You mention the Italians – some of the whingers on this topic would do well to go to any one of our Italian restaurants and ask the proprietor how he started off when he first came to Jersey in the 60s.
…And they didn’t speak English either but they had the ability to use their brains and work hard.
That’s more than we can say for the average Jersey teenager today, isn’t it!
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I worked whilst i was pregnant with ym daughter as a hotel receptionist. I did 42 hours a week, one day off for a grand total of £200 per week, £219 then. This was 4 years ago.
If you are trying to rent a home , eat and have a life, £800 a month in Jersey just about covers your rent. So thats why, as most of the other staff either lived at home or lived in accomdation at the hotel with their meals included. So they had more money to splash around.
I don’t blame people for not working in the hospitality industry. Its appalling pay, slave labour and there is not chance of promotion etc
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#3
Owning a home, going on holiday, having kids, having a nice mobile phone or big TV. These are not god given rights. If you cant afford it, then you dont have it.
Working for minimum wage is something those without skills or qualifications have to face. Its not like we werent told this at school.
I see the point of view of these people. Why should i work my a$$ off to just get by, when other people are getting paid twice as much to sit in an office and answer phones etc. Well im sorry but thats life. Survival of the fitest. If your not willing to learn the skills to give you the competative edge, then yes, you will have to work your a$$ off to get by, and no you wont have such luxuries as a big TV is your own home and holidays every year.
People need to get out of this mind set that you dont have to work for anything. that things we all take for granted because everyone else has them, means that we should have them too.
The guy that lives next door to me has a £40,000 porsche sitting in his drive. but i know he works hard, hes got the skills and he saves every penny to afford such things in life. and i know if i want the same i have to better myself to be able to compete at his level. Its simple!
Evolution: if we were living in the stone age, all these people who think that food should just be put in front of them, would have been extinct long ago. Lucky for them (unlucky for us) the system as it is today allows such laziness and poor attitudes to breed.
We need to nip this in the bud (although its probably too late. easy to obtain credit cards and loans, and states benefits mean that these people will never cease to exist as we the “fittest” help them to survive at our own expense!
If there is a job available, and you are unemployed. TAKE THAT JOB! if you cant afford to pay the rent, move, if you can afford repayments on your car, sell it. if you cant afford to pay off your debts, then it serves you right for being so careless in the past. We are not going to constantly bail out these people who are a constant drain on society!
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Well i never, locals not wanting to take on a job in the service industry. why am i not suprised?
There is a distinct mentallity that jobs in the service industry are low paid, poor hours and beneath many people.
the truth of the matter is, whatever you get out of any job is totally dependant on what effort you put into it in the first place.
On the continent, the hospitality trade is seen as a worthy career, people who enter into it with the right attitude are well rewarded and progress through training to gain new skills and positions of responsibility. Tipping is also seen as a proper reward for good service and those tips go to each of the members of staff you worked that day. The staff also work together as a team supporting each other to the benefit of all and most importantly the customer.
Therefore if you think the job is beneath you, then before you even start you have the wrong attitude, your not helpful or customer focused. you will come across as lazy and inconvienced by customer demands, and you wont get the tips!
I’ve worked behind bars and in resturants and quite often with the right attitude i’d double my take-home pay… and that was in the UK where there is an attitude of non-tipping. In Jersey Where tipping is pretty normal you should be doubling your normal take home every day.
So if you think earning minimum wage is beneath you… how about changing your attitude and earn double the minimum wage?
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Oh and i’d much rather be served by a local with the right attitude than anyone else who might mis-understand my order, no matter how good they are
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Jersey Boy @ 35 – Briiliant! You are perfectly spot on, though the usual suspects on here expect handouts!!! We know who you lot are!
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Thinks Jersey Boy’s comments are fabulous. Well said that man !!
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Those that refuse a second work offer should have their benefits stopped “two stikes and you are out”.
A situation should never exist where someone is better off by not working!
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Whilist there are some ambitious, human teenagers who want to make something of themselves, unfortunately many young people these days seem to adopt the famous bolshy, can’t be bothered, hate you, attitude, emulating “Kevin” of Harry Enfield fame. Equally unfortunately this becomes such a way of life they forget to “grow up” !!
I have seen many examples of this type, slouching around the seating area in Social Security – in their scruffiest, no respect for anyone clothing – sulkily waiting for their appointment which they don’t want to attend but have no choice.
Many can’t be bothered, or are too lazy, to work, and to top it all have serious issues with authority which regrettably will ensure that any job they are unlucky enough to get will swiftly come to a screeching halt.
Teenagers nowdays really do think the world owes them a living and expect to have everything handed to them on a plate – and on their terms too!
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Ive worked in Tourism for the past 4 summer seasons and Ive loved every minute of it. Ok so we work 6 day weeks and the wages are shocking (less than £300 a week), we get no holidays between April to October and then we become unemployed at the end of each year. As sombody comments above, forget pension plans holidays etc, but the one thing I love about it is every hot Jersey summer morning I head out to work in the country avoiding all the traffic and I see all the shirt and tie brigades heading off to their air conditioned offices for a day of business and soggy biscuits in meetings, where as I head off in my T-shirt and shorts, sunglasses etc to work in the sun. I even get paid for getting a free sun tan and working with my friends.
I wouldnt change it for a higher wage, the quality of life is excellent, and you’ve always got happy stories to remember each year and a constant smile.
Ive worked in Finance on enourmous wages, but I wouldnt go back, give me tourism anyday!
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Love how everyone bangs on about ‘Jersey teenagers’ as a monolithic bloc.
Most of those ‘Jersey teenagers’ end up being the young professionals you will see coming through the ranks… those that don’t leave as a result of the bigotry of older generations anyhow.
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What use is minimum wage in Jersey? About as much use as a chocolate fire guard. Fine if you are sharing with 10 others in a pig in a poke.
If you have a family and a mortgage forget it you’ll soon be out on the streets. When this happens the state will be paying for your accommodation in the rental sector and other allowances just to help you survive.
Better to pay a decent wage and have people standing on their two feet and not needing propping up by the state.
At the end of the day you will have a good chance of getting states assistances if you are on a poor wage through rent rebate etc.
People are quite happy to go out and let others wait on them. Cleaning toilets and waiting on others is not their idea of a career choice though. The same goes for the UK.
Jersey Boy how do you know your neighbout works hard? He may not. Reward is not directly proportional to effort, some know this and they tend to get others to do their work for them, whilst they partake of a better use of their time jet setting etc.
As for the stone age everyone tended to share they were all part of their tribe. One didn’t eat most of the food and give the rest a few crumbs to get by on. They would have soon been sorted out if they tried that malarky. Not so today.
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(44) martyn, what do you do when unemployed?
where do you live ,please.
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Adrian – here you go on again, expecting handouts for those who have been lazy and didn’t choose to attend university and better themselves. That lot you tend to argue for are the one’s causing social problems, and social unrest. That is the lot who shoudl have their benefits cut.
So if it turns out they are on the streets, then so be it – a good deterrent to actually get off their bum and earn a living.
Jersey Boy’s neighbour clearly would be a hard earner, but because you dont’ like people who have excelled, you incorrectly assume that he doesn’t work hard? Why to only further a fallaciosu argument.
If this lot commit crimes – then throw them in jail.
These things exist for a reason, and I don’t want my taxes going to the lazy, I would rather it go towards prisons to demonstrate their is a deterrent so we don’t have the cycle repeated.
Adrian – on your bike yet again. You are still in the minority.
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I struggle to employ local youngsters, I try, I pay £9 an hour but they are not all employable.
Most live at home and don’t really need the money, they phone in sick all the time, lie, steal, make the most pathetic excuses for being late and lazy and are miserable.
I have had a barely numerate or literate 20 year old Jersey lad tell me 6 months ago he would not take a job unless I paid him more. I saw a couple of weeks ago still without a job.
I feel some of the young Jersey people overestimated their own value in the workplace.
I also had a work scheme person who only turned up half the time and one day did not even take his Jacket off because he did so little. Then was then upset and suggested I had abused him as free labour.
May I suggest that there are quite a few coming out of our non fee paying schools who almost unemployable because of a combination of bad attitude and lack of basic reading, writing and arithmetic.
If you only have the skill set to wash dishes what else can you do!
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(47) small money, I dont often reply to responses, as I never quite know where the responses are leading, however what I will say is that im a local lad, born and educated over here, recently graduated from University and currently living in a house share with four friends all from the establishment we work at each season. Two of us are local, but we all studied Tourism and thats where we want to work. You ask what I do when im made unemployed, well I temp for the winter, my friends get evening work, delivery driver positions etc. Temp agencies tend to place us in offices, but we live as a house, putting ALL our earnings together, regardless of who earns the most and that covers rent and food costs. The change we split equally and do with it as we want
Living on the wages the industry pay is feesable, if a little unorthodox, but it mainly springs from the fact that myself and my other local friend who lives with me just accept the fact that if we choose to work in the industry, we will neve be able to buy a house individually, or even rent a decent sized place. A house share is the best option in our opinion, if we want our independence from home.
The big I guess is we have the will to work long hours over 6 day weeks for low wages because thats what we want to do. Were also not financially driven, we’re just realistic and make sure we enjoy ourselves!
We only live once….
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Having seen the facilities at the States secondary schools, I wonder if we are actually giving out false messages to our young, in that everything is provided on a plate.
I fail to see how a school leaver would turn down a job paying £6 to £9 per hour, when they are beeter off on benefits. If that is their belief, then our whole approach to education has gone seriously wrong.
I have to say that I did not make the most of the opportunities that came my way in the late 70′s and early 80′s but since the age of 17, have always been in work, any changes to employment finishing on a Friday and starting the next job the following Monday. I would add that my first job paid £20 per week !
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I know of at least one local company with two branches – one is managed by a portugese person, the other a local person. A friend of mine was told at the 2nd branch that a job was going at the Portugese managed branch. He went down there to be told to his face the job had gone! He went back to the first store to be met with confusion, the job had not been taken! Two weeks later a portugese person started working there !! Discrimination works both ways on this Island !!
For the record I have several portugese friends but there are some (just like with locals) that give them a bad name !
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@ 46
I know because he works with my girlfriend, and she has told me about how hard he works and how well he manages his money in order to afford to have the things he has.
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My Son Jersey born applied for a job at B&Q surprise surprise a Polish person was taken on discrimination against Jersey Born persons is endemic in Jersey its like being in a foreign country
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It’s a no-brainer.
Jersey’s society is based on status. This is why we have a quallies system, it’s so we can sort the wheat from the chaff. It’s the same reason why Jersey born parents feel pressurised to send their kids to fee paying schools.
Therefore, why would any youngster want to work in hospitality with the appalling wages that go with it? Their dreams of owning a home, and sending their kids to private school are pretty much nil.
There again, you probably wouldn’t have kids anyway. Try telling a girl with quallies that you work in a hotel – you might as well tell her you have genital warts!
Women subconsciously look for a man that can provide, and a hotel worker will never be that
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I think that a lot of the problem is the attitude of various do-gooder States departments who do not allow children even to do a paper round until they are almost ready to leave school.
When I was 10, I had a paper round, when I was 14, I washed glasses for a bar at night and cleared the bar (7-8am.) before going to school in the morning. This I did until I was old enough to work as a barman at night by which time I also had a full-time day job. I was not unusual as several of my friends earned a bit of pocketmoney by doing paper rounds and part time jobs. We learned the ethics of work.
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(50) thanks for the reply. i just wondered if you all travelled in the winter months, and house share works while you are yong free and single .
it would be great if you could all club together to buy a house in the ideal world , and extend it if and when wives and children came along.
i wish all a full and happy life.
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(55) and (56)
i to worked (to a fashion) when i was 12 to 14 in the summer holidays, cleaning ice cream machines , deck chairs, collecting coke bottles of the beach at the end of the day( got money for them in those days .
did odd jobs , left school at 15 and got a job.
and have had many different and varied work over the years .
watch and learn and listen , its possible to learn most things in the end.
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i work as a waiter and have worked in various restraunts in my 4 years living in the island. I hate it u are treated like a dog and have a constant battle with eastern europeans hu cum in a push all the english, portugese and jersey workers out. Also i have witnessed employers turning down young local workers who are willing to work and taking on eastern europeans insted.
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I know of a young Jersey Couple both 18 and unmarried who now have a 1 year old baby girl. They quickly got a States Flat, and he also earns “money on the side”. I heard that the culture in the block concerned were at least 6 of the mothers were of similar age, none of which have any intention of working and plan to have at least another child to receive full benefits.
The mothers also receive income on the side (undeclared) for looking after children.
Life is a beach for these young parents
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How about instead of giving people something for nothing, we keep them on their Job seekers allowence/benefits etc but they have to put in a weeks work “Volunteering”. There are plently of Charity shops only open a couple of days a week. There is always rubbish on the streets to be picked up etc etc why not simple things like collecting the elderly’s shopping for them? If you can prove you have volunteered then pay them if they can’t unlucky should have gone to school!
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I helped on farms when supposed to be at school at age 11+
Spring planting spuds, autumn standing spuds there were always farmers willing to take you on.
We got a big dinner lunch time,went home at 4 o’clock when school finished so the ma wouldn’t suss.
Collecting empty lemonade bottles was something else-now and again you hit the jackpot when you “acquired” a syphon bottle by fair means or foul,worth 2 bob a time.
In summer caddying at golf course for rich visitors for a bob or 2.
Earning a few bob was more important to me and many others as everything was out of most folks reach in them good old bad old days.
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@59. Thanks
its nice that other folk who aren’t local see what is going on over here and from first hand experience.
On several occasions I have been into shops, cafes etc and found a majority of the Polish girls extremely rude and arrogant. There a the odd few who know manners and I know some girls who I have worked with who have been quite nice. I would say there is only about a quarter of the Polish over here who should be welcomed.
I remember in Woolworths once a girl behind the till was gnarling and cussing under her breath at all the customers I stood in the queue and watched her and went straight up to one of the other members of staff to let them know.
If I catch anyone treating people like that I will be complaining and always make sure I do! Be warned no one is indispensable got it?
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I think its more to do with what is on offer with handouts than anything else,
15 months ago I was laid off, my hourly rate then was a little of £38 per hour, needless to say I couldn’t replace it!
However I have a family to support (My wife works too) so I took a night security position for £7 per hour, because of my previous high wage i was (and still am )on 21% ITIS, plus social security etc etc it would have been easy to be the victim and try and claim benefits but I have always worked (Including hotels and restaurants when I was younger)and I have responsibilities, why should other tax payers pay to look after the family I have when I am perfectly capable of working, needless to say I ended up doing 3 jobs and things are now better, (Although I still do 1 night a week at the security job) so the reason our youngsters and ex bankers and anybody else for that matter should take these jobs is simple……because we need the income and we CAN work!
Hospitality is globally poorly paid, that is never going to change, if you went to book a holiday and the cost had doubled but hey guess what your hotel / airline/ reps are now getting much more money would that entice you to book? No but if we want cheap holidays then there is a cost, and rightly or wrongly the cost is poorly paid overworked hospitality staff but it has always been that way! (Doesn’t make it right but that is how it is….Globally)
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@59: maybe those who were turned down were incompetent – like so many, mentioned by @49-the future.
BTW: if you, 49 would like to employ a literate-numerate (University degree, but better to keep quiet in hospitality:) 33yrs old female, who is “Eastern-European” (sounds like the devil himself…), part time, a weekly 24 max., for that 9pounds you mentioned, I would like to hear from you. (please no dish-washing. I like it, but not in an industrial volume)
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Adrian for Chief Minister!
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#59 You are right (#64 has it wrong). There are some employers in hospitality who are quite vocal about the fact they just see a Jersey name and pass it over in favour of Eastern Europeans. This is discrimination whether #64 likes it or not. No-one should ever be turned down on the basis of name or nationality, that would be illegal in any civilised country.
I don’t care if an employer has had problems with locals in the past, the current applicant wasn’t responsible. Still, employers seem to put up with no end of hassle from foreign workers and continue to hire foreign workers despite their strong adverse reaction to problems with local workers. Makes no sense.
Hospitality could, of course, explain why advertising of jobs is a lot more focussed on abroad than here. Makes it pretty obvious they WANT foreign workers.
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bella(62).
a soda syphon, correct hit the jackpot.
and how true that everything was out of reach for most, no new bike for xmas, build one from parts, no i pod or xbox, mobile phone whats that?
colour telly , wow you must be rich.
hire purchase or a loan, sorry sir you will need a garantor for that £300.
i had a better life style when i cracked the £100 pound a week, than i do today at a take home after tax of £450 ish, or less.
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67 SM
It was all feast or famish—-plenty of apples and pears to be had free if you knew the right places.
had to climb trees to get nuts,came unstuck once or twice.
Television,whats that,we had an old radio for entertainment,a skipping rope using some neighbours washing line,marbles you had to haggle over.
Clothes donated from the rich,I even had to wear my brothers wellies in summer 2 sizes too big to go to school.
Taught me a valuable lesson—Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.
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Leah, ever ask yourself why some employers behave the way they do? I would not condone systemmatic discrimination one way or another, but you have to put yourself in their shoes.
Their experience of East Europeans is probably a very favourable one – many are graduates, all have been motivated to travel away from their families to make something better for themselves. They are probably intelligent, presentable, conscientious and reliable.
You have to remember that it is the restauranteurs’ own money that they are spending. They can either get the best value possible for their own money, or settle for something which is, in all probability, a vastly inferior product.
What would you do, Leah? By employing inferior staff, you are effectively sacrificing your own profit, your own money out of a sense of, well, what exactly? Give your money to Jersey charities if you wish, that is your perogative, but why require someone who has set up their own business, has risked their own money and benefits the local community in so many ways to waste money on an inferior employee?
Shouldn’t the message really be that Jersey folk have to sharpen up their act. The world is a different place now, most of us have to work harder for our living, work better, and sometimes for less reward. Some of us get on with it.
You “don’t care” because it is not your money.
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Mike borrowing money from a bank isn’t owning it. It is using someone elses money to make a profit on. They are also using others hard work to profit on.
If the business person makes a limited company as their vehicle to profit from, then this means the risk is cut drastically to very little in real terms.
They aren’t employing workers because they feel sorry for them, they are seen as a commodity just as a piece of furniture or truck is got rid of once it is beyond its usefull purpose so are workers.
Employers have it too far their own way in Jersey. The UK has the balance a bit further towards the workers.
Mike you have two identically performing workers one you can get for £6/hour the other one will cost £7/hour who will you chose? Thought so, the cheapest one. So will the employers. And according to you the £7/hour one is inferior! On yer bike!
The message should be that we are all part of society and we should all put in our fair share and not what we can get away with. This goes for both ends.
Is employing mimimum wage local/migrant labour, who have a higher chance of not paying taxes, benefiting society as a whole, when the remaining middle ground tax payers are making up the shortfall caused by employing cheap labour?
I say it is better to have higher paid workers who are paying taxes and who are not draining the public purse. It appears you believe in the opposite.
The world is what everyone allows it to be. If the majority said no to this rubbish then it would change.
Working harder and harder for less and less is a fools game and it will end up putting you out on the streets. You can get on with pushing yourself into poverty and an early grave but you shouldn’t expect others to do so.
Working better is getting out of the bog before you end up clutching at straws and getting sucked under. To be brutally honest work is a mugs game for the majority, it pays them very little in real terms. However a select few live the life of riley from others hard work.
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#70 Mike, what would I do? and what have I done? Give EVERYone an equal chance in the form of a trial period. That’s the only way to do it. Hate to burst your bubble but I do actually get to hire staff!
I totally understand employers developing prejudice but it is discrimination to then use that prejudice against an individual when you actually have no idea what they are like.
The laugh is that by being so prejudiced you will be missing out on some absolute gems! I suspect you’ve listened a little too much to the criticism of Jersey people on here and failed to actually find out the truth for yourself. There are good and bad eggs in every nationality and boy have I worked with some utterly lazy and stupid immigrants.
You can try and justify your xenophobia as much as you want but the truth is that there is no justification for it.
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a couple of situations spring to mind with employing non jersey people.
a large super market near gas place .
i asked a floor worker for a certain product 3 times i had to repeat the product it was pickling vinegar , eventualy the worker went off and returned with ???
another floor worker who fortunately was jersey and knew what i was looking for this has happened on a couple of occasions with different products,
these people are paid the same amount in wages
but one is doing more running around than the other makes you think.
another point is …
we are being urged to BUY LOCAL we should also be EMPLOYING LOCAL!!!!!!!!!
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Noah(comment 73) I was puzzled one day when my son kept phoning to ask me food related questions whilst shopping for a dinner he was preparing for friends.Laughing I asked him why he didn’t ask an assistant in the shop you are referring to and his reply was that “I can’t find one who speaks English!!!!!”
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73
Totally agree with you.
Trying to find an item in that store is something else,can never find an assistant to understand what you want and where it is,I usually give up and go somewhere else.
The wrong prices and offers are often in the wrong shelves as well,they blame the non-English for this as they can’t read English very much either.
We the customer have to put up with this shoddy service or vote with our feet as I do.
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