Draft law protecting workers to be lodged
Friday 3rd February 2012, 2:57PM GMT.
Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand
A DRAFT version of a long-awaited law to protect Island workers from discrimination should be lodged by the end of the year, the Home Affairs Minister has said.
Senator Ian Le Marquand also plans to lodge regulations to cover disability, race, sex and age within two months of the Discrimination Law being registered.
The law – first proposed in 1999 – was shelved by ministers last year following concerns over funding but businesses overwhelmingly backed calls for the States to introduce the legislation.
Senator Le Marquand has confirmed that he hopes that the law, which would outlaw discrimination over issues including race, gender, nationality and age, will be introduced soon.
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13 years in the making.
they do say “better late than never”.
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In The British Virgin islands….the law is if there is a local qualified ..he must be offered the job first….this political correctness needs dumping in the bin and lets get back to brass tacks…we were here first.
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how is unemployment in the bvi’s?
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What do you mean by ‘first’. Have you traced your lineage back to the cave dwellers over here? Just like me and everyone else born here, your ancestors were immmigrants. Mine came over in the 14th century, what about yours? You’re just picking a point in time and using it to push your right wing agenda.
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A policy of locals first is adopted in many other countries.
People being tribal tend to look after their own tribe first and it has ever been so. This is human nature.
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born here
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“Draft law protecting workers to be lodged”
OK, but I would have thought that a law protecting children in when in the care of the states was rather more overdue.
I believe that previous Attorney Generals etc. have allowed this area to remain somewhat lacking and that once a child has lost both it’s parents then apparently NO ONE is responsible for that child; not even the states !
-I kid you not !
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Oh yes, businessess wanted this law in so they could then continue to employ immigrants at minimum wage with the backing of “well, we can’t discriminate”. What about a seperate Law which covers discrimination against a local?
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It amazes me that Jersey people think they are immune the pressures the rest of Europe faces, the immigration problem is the same in many counties in the UK as here. Local people in their own counties are out of work due to immigrants as well, this is only exasperated by the squeeze in the economy. They too are unable or are unwilling to uproot from their homes and family to find work elsewhere, just like Jersey. We are happy to use and abuse immigrants when it suits us but cannot take the fact that they are still employed in jobs that locals would not have touched with a bargepole before the boom went bust. You cannot have your cake and eat it.
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What a silly saying……if I have my cake then of course I want to eat it
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I don’t think that refusing to over-pay locals for work amounts to discrimination.
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It isn’t a case of overpaying it is a case of taking advantage of cheap immigrant labour. One way to stop this is to curb immigration. However businesses would make less profit. This is why businesses love large scale immigration as they can force down wages and increase their profits even further. Make labour scarcer and wages would rise accordingly.
At present it is far too much weighted in favour of the employer and needs to be adjusted to a more level playing field.
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Unless it is impossible to disciminate against someone because you just don’t like them, for reasons other than in the law, it is worthless.
If only the identified motives are outlawed that will legitimise discrimination for any unidentified motive.
A person who may discriminate against another on the basis of their age, sex, nationality, etc. need only claim to have discriminated against that person because they didn’t like their attire, sound of their voice, or aftershave etc. That would be quite legal and impossible to prove otherwise.
Legislate against discrimination without restriction or don’t do it at all. Likewise, why would our society limit such legislation to employment matters? Would it be quite acceptable to our society if Playzone put up a sign saying white kids only? Of course not.
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its all got out of hand .greedy rich prefer non locals .god knows how ian will sort this out ,i am sure he will give it his best as he is a bean like me .what will happen when the banks ,and the euro crash and collapse ?.well we will have lots of empty houses to squat in .no one will be able to buy them .
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Historically many have died for the principle of separation of church and state…now we have le Marquand ..and Gorst backing each other up…both very churchy……not good Mr Mainwearing…not good at all.
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A while back I applied for a fantastic job which included the opportunity to work in Europe. I was turned down after it was found that because of EC discrimination against Jersey people I could not work in Europe. With such racist laws in place in the EU why should Jersey allow outsiders to take what few jobs there are open to real locals?
Whilst EU countries such as Poland and Portugal continue to allow and enforce such racist laws against Jersey people we should follow suit and apply exactly the same restrictions on immigrants.
Anti-discrimination legislation if not applied equally to all races is simple racism by the back door.
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Sanity
February 5, 2012 at 4:21 pm
A while back I applied for a fantastic job which included the opportunity to work in Europe. I was turned down after it was found that because of EC discrimination against Jersey people I could not work in Europe. With such racist laws in place in the EU why should Jersey allow outsiders to take what few jobs there are open to real locals?
Whilst EU countries such as Poland and Portugal continue to allow and enforce such racist laws against Jersey people we should follow suit and apply exactly the same restrictions on immigrants.
Anti-discrimination legislation if not applied equally to all races is simple racism by the back door. simple because as a working person you are not in the equasion,
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Sanity 8 – Anti-discrimination legislation if not applied equally to all races is simple racism by the back door.
Really would that apply to the Jersey people who can move to the UK and buy a house from the off whereas UK residents coming to Jersey have to wait 10 years, I waited 20.
Back door racism now?
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Perhaps if voters discriminated on the grounds of competence we’d have a more functional States chamber. Also, doesn’t Le Marquand look a complete state? Is he wearing an anorak with a suit and expecting to be taken seriously?
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most of our politians have a dull dress sense,imho, quite a few wear the same type of boring rain coat , that certain teachers at my old school wore(70′s) , and those masters in charge at the borstal portrayed in the movie “scum”.
even i can look smart , but casual when needed .
maybe their wive’s may get them to have a bit of a make over.
mine does ” your not wearing that old thing again are you ”
” i feel at home in it my love “
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Will this law then be used to protect local residents who get overlooked for jobs simply because the employers opt for non-residenst?
That is discrimination….especially if the local resident has all the correct attributes for the job in question!
Isn’t the employment legislation in place to protect local residents in so that non-residents can only take certain jobs if there is no resident who qualifies for the role???
I know a business which has just employed a foreign non-resident to do a job locally, which is not essential and could have been filled by any local resident with a brain cell….this job was not even advertised!
Knowing this company as I do, it is also safe to assume that this person was not the cheaper option either!
Often companies will hire “consultants” to do the everyday jobs to get around certain legislation.
How is local unemployment expected to improve when situations like this arise???
What is in place to protect the employee if an employer decides they wish to replace a local resident with a non-local resident to do the same job when there are no other reasons for dismissing them?
You could claim unfair dismissal, but the employee has to prove this and I have heard of several instances where some companies have wisened up and have set a person up for a fall so they are justified in their eventual dismissal!!!
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Queensland are seeking workers for the Mining
Industry,and are even considering bringing
in people from Sri Lanka.
Perhaps the Jersey Government could approach
Queenslands Mining representatives to secure
well paid positions for the Islands unemployed.
Hate to think of peoples lives being wasted
away when there is work availanle in..
The Lucky Country
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good idea, to be able to travel and work too.
as most jobs in jersey are advertised around the world , why not have a overseas section on the jobs je website or down in la motte street .
i should imagine that there are quite a few sri lankans from the gem industry who have the experiance of mining, and will be cheap workers .
if i was younger and , unemployed , i would be looking to leave.
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