Vash the Stampede

Beeb.

jad n rich

Sounds exactly the same as here, every season they are screaming fruit and veg going to rot as locals dont want to pick it, why pick fruit when centerlinks up the road

SW3105

Haha! We watched that aswell. I seriously think that those kids should have their benefits stopped with immediate effect. They obviously weren't interested in looking for work. Money is given away far too easily to people who don't deserve it.

My little sister (23) had a baby at 17, has been on benefits ever since. We tried to get her to work whilst her daughter was in school. She went to a local pub, the landlady said 'as you have no work experience, we can't let you work the bar and tills however we could employ you as a cleaner with the chance to work up to the bar' ... My sister sniffed at the landlady and told her to 'shove her job offer'.

I bet one of the 'foreigners' was delighted to get that cleaning job!!

AndyR1976

When in the UK, I used to work for local Council's - I'm a town planner, but part of my job was to deal with our housing department on 'affordable' homes and social housing....

The amount of times I was at the housing counter talking to colleagues and some fat chav would come in and say:

"Me and me girlfriend are just about to have our 3rd kid - we live in a 2 bedroom Council house and it ain't big enough - we wanna be upgraded to a new house straight away......."

So often I wanted to walk over and say - "look, **** head, you want a bigger house, get out of your white tracksuit and get a job and pay for it!"

I know so many peopl in the UK who just don't bother because its easier to get a welfare cheque - including a couple of single mums who work one day a week - because if they work any more than that they get less from the Gov't....

Its just wrong....

My brother works for Centrelink in Australia - and we were just talking the other day about the hoops people have to go through these days to get benefits (its a little easier for single mums and families to get benefits to help out).....he basically said that many of the 'clients' he deals with end up finding a job before getting any payments - because its easier to get a job than to go through the rigmarole of applying and getting beenfits from Centrelink..... and so it bloody should be!!!!

Benefits used to be a safety net......the last line of defence when you lost your job or found yourself on hard time.... in the UK its now a way of life, and the problem will get worse. There are now second and third generation dole bludgers - people who have never had a job, and who's parents never had a job ....what hope is there!?

Losers!

Vash the Stampede

I work for the local council, and was informed by a colleague today that there are entire families in certain parts of [a West Midlands town that shall remain nameless] who pride themselves on the fact that they are on benefits, and have been for two or three generations.

My colleague used to work in the housing department; she told me that trying to change the mentality of these people was virtually impossible.

What can you do? Great Britain is a hand-out society. They don't want to work because the government has effectively told them that they don't have to.

jwood

My brother works for Centrelink in Australia - and we were just talking the other day about the hoops people have to go through these days to get benefits (its a little easier for single mums and families to get benefits to help out).....he basically said that many of the 'clients' he deals with end up finding a job before getting any payments - because its easier to get a job than to go through the rigmarole of applying and getting beenfits from Centrelink..... and so it bloody should be!!!!

Benefits used to be a safety net......the last line of defence when you lost your job or found yourself on hard time.... in the UK its now a way of life, and the problem will get worse. There are now second and third generation dole bludgers - people who have never had a job, and who's parents never had a job ....what hope is there!?

Losers![/QUOTE]

I disagree with you about how easy it is to get benefits in England.
When i got made redundant i tried to sign on and was informed that because my husband was working i would only get my stamp (national insurance) paid. Never mind the mortgage, house insurance, life insurance, kids lunch money as not entitled to free school diners and basic living cost's.
I have from personal experience found centre link a lot more helpful, at least they don't look down their nose's at me. Well not yet anyway. lol

Wendy

My step brother and his wife were like that - they had 7 kids and were 'seperated' because they got more benefits that way

Used to piss me right off because I have always worked for every penny I have had even though I was a Mum at 15 and could have quite easily sat on my arse getting paid for it.

These people have no pride or self repect!

*climbs off soapbox*

Vash the Stampede

I think your mistake was not being a 13 year old teenage mother...

ozzieeagle

I tried potato picking for a brief stint whilst on holidays way back in my youth. I've never forgotten it, possibly the worst 24 hours of work I've ever put in, in my life.

I reckon that BBC report could be sensationalism, because every fruit and vegie harvesting job Ive ever seen runs on piece rates, and to go at the max, which is what that 7 quid would be, would probably be for pickers that have years of experience under their belts... I bet 3 quid is more the norm.

Down at the lower end of the wage pool things get really tough, almost slave labour, if we want a society where people are forced to work. Then get the government to admit it, but to dress things up and tut tut at people that dont want to do jobs that we would all rather avoid is probably not the way to go.

martinw01908

Never a truer word spoken. Somebody at my work does part time. She 'split up' with her boyfriend and they sold their house (they couldn't afford the mortgage anymore). She went to the council and got a council flat straight away because they have a child. Officially shes a single mum who works part-time but her boyfriend is pretty much living there. This is a story that must be repeated many times over in every town in the UK.

People who are together really but have split up or single for handout purposes. Benefit fraud is rife.

Vash the Stampede

The employers clearly state that they are offering more than the minimum wage. This isn't a case of "We're offering £7 per hour to anyone who's spent the last 40 years plucking potatoes from the ground, and £3 per hour to everyone else".

I once did a couple of days' grape-picking in 40+ degree heat at Sandalford Wines (Swan Valley, WA). Bloody tough work, but everyone was paid at the same rate - except the foreman, of course.

That included me (a stringy young student), the Chinese backpackers (who, like me, were nearly dead from sunstroke by the end of the day) and the regulars (a bunch of Greek ladies who had clearly done it all before, and spent a good deal of time arguing with the foreman - who was also Greek!)

I was not eligible for any benefits during the first 2 years that I spent in this country. No council housing; no giro; no jobseekers allowance. Nothing. I had to get off my backside and work. If I couldn't find work, I didn't get any money. Simple.

My first job paid £5 per hour. I would have killed for £7!

NikiL

OH's ex claimed to be out of work when we were going through the residency battle, had a barrister from hell all paid for by the state. She was working, claiming all the benefits under the sun.......

MartinLuther

It's a good job all those foreigners are there to keep the locals in dole money. Just think what would happen if no one was generating any wealth.

On the Aussie front, the influx of (some rather tasty) Polish barstaff must be hitting the work prospects of some Aussies working their way around Europe.

jwood

I think you may be right, i'm married and had 3 kids at home at the time. When i asked how i was supposed to be able to afford the simple things in life like food she said i had to use my redundancy money.
She wasn't aware that i'd spent that on our visa application.

martinw01908

Thats how it should be in the UK. Chances of that ever happening in my lifetime - zero.