No more immigrants!!
 

Sorry...need to vent...about immigrants!

OH and I moved from England to Ontario in 2006. I'm Canadian-born, but spent more of my life in England than Canada.

I started working on a team full of immigrants (coincidentally). We have 2 people from Bangladesh, 3 from China and 1 from Poland. Normally not a big deal, apart from the fact that apart from the Polish guy who has been here since childhood, everyone else's English is hit and miss, and there are daily struggles to understand and make yourself understood (yes, I realise the guy worked for IBM in Beijing for 8 years, but if he can't explain himself or understand everyone else, what good is he?).

So we're in the middle of some major projects at work that will result on whether or not we will be licenced in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario (so nothing major!). I was somewhat surprised to see that I am heavily involved in every single one of them, while the rest of my team are not involved in any. I pointed out that in order to do the workload they want me to, I will have to work 7 days a week for the next 3 months. I'm told yes, my managers are aware of that, and they will give me time off in lieu at the end of it. I asked why I have been given so much work when the rest of my team are sitting around doing nothing. The response was because there is a large amount of documentation required, they only trust it to someone whose English is at a fluent level.

OK...so this is reverse racism by my standpoint. I am supposed to do the work of an entire TEAM of people, because my boss decided to hire people who can't communicate efficiently in English, but we're all paid the same? How does THAT work?

It's things like this that make me wish that non-English or French speakers were forced to pass a language test before immigration. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I need to vent! :curse:

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Now where have I heard that before - Oh, that's right - England

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Is there not a way you can say nicely to your boss what you outlined above. No-one can expect someone to work 7 days for 3 months thats just slave labour.

Unless you asked to get paid a share of their wages too!!!

Sorry no stirling advice but I would be angry too.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

I don't see why you're venting about 'immigrants'. It's your boss and/or managers that seem be the problem, to me.

Also, it could be that those 'immigrants' are angry that Ms Anglophone gets to do more of the project work in lieu of time off while they're stuck with their thumbs up their wahoos, not given the chance to learn/practice because they are not trusted. Or maybe not; just a different perspective.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Actually, they have a pretty sweet deal, and will do everything they can to avoid work (they've refused projects because they don't like them in the past). I understand what you're saying, what it all boils down to is that the hiring and management practices at my place suck, but when the excuse given is because they don't speak English (which I admit isn't their fault, I wouldn't want to try to move to China or Bangladesh and try to work!), and they learn to use that as an excuse ("I don't want to do that project because I don't understand it, but this cushy one that will get me loads of attention and praise I understand perfectly") etc.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Uh, unless they arrived family class, surely they _were_ forced to pass a language test before immigration?

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Who is they? The people you're working with, or all non-English speaking in general? Personally I think work avoidance is a highly commendable skill.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Hardly a team player there Bazzzz.:frown:

As a project manager my advice would be to hit them squarely in the old wallet, and say:

"time off in lieu doesn't cut it, I will like double time for weekends please and overtime for past normal working hours. Plus 1 day time off in lieu for every week worked in this crazy pressure cooker project, thank you".

If you are so essential to the project you are in a strong bargaining position, so go for their wallet. It is amazing how financial penalty focuses management thoughts of other ways to achieve the goal. Especially if they think they are paying twice for the same work.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

But be sure before putting into the writing Eengleesh that you are properly the spellings and whatnots, cor blimey innit.

:sneaky:;)

R.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Bloody immigrants. They come over here, steal our jobs, then have the temerity to complain because they don't like the way things are done over here. If they hate it so much they should go back to where they came from.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Actually, I did :)

Having been an immigrant myself (and treated horribly because of it), and now with my husband as the immigrant, we have both found that you have to work twice as hard to prove yourself "worthy" in your host country. My problem is the specific immigrants that I work with believe that Canada (and the company) should provide them everything on a silver platter without putting any effort in themselves, such as attempting to learn the language, and I wind up suffering because of it.

Went through the same thing in England - worked damn hard to get my citizenship, and on the way out of the council building I was the only one who actually walked straight out of the building (I had to go back to work). Everyone else then walked into the benefits office to sign up.

Maybe it's more down to work ethic of specific people/cultures.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

If the others in your office have refused to work on projects before then why can't you refuse to work overtime on this one??

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

I think it is because she doesnt have the 'excuse' that she doesnt speak English - which is what the other workers are using as a reason not to be able to do the project

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Yawwwwnnnnnnn

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Surely you meant to quote the original post there?

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

There's as much onus on you to try and speak slowly and clearly so that they can understand you as there is on them to learn the language.

Maybe you're just a mug. Who doesn't want free money?

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

I agree with Dave+Jules... either hit them in their pocket or find yourself a new job... no point gettig annoyed:rofl:

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Well I thought I would save some e-paper. I was yawning at Rich_007 nit picking on my incorrect use of the word "will" instead of "would".

Sometimes I type faster than I am thinking, or is it the other way around? Who cares :lol:

Anyway, personally for me this media is about speed of response, and if I happen to screw it up, no big deal. It is like fretting over a mispelt text message. ;):p

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

You're a very serious chap, deep down, aren't you.

:confused:

R.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Hey Richie Rich no problem I dont let it get to me 'onest:mad::huh::confused::blink::curse::(:curse: quick send in the guys with the white coats.

:thumbup:

Do you know how hard it was not to put the apostrophe in the dont?

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

I say teh problem isn't the Chinese or the Pakistanis - it's the bloody limejuicers. Send 'em back to Blighty - a pox upon this mighty wilderness they is! Bet they don't even know Blighty is an Hindustani word . . .

"L'Angleterre, ah, la perfide Angleterre." - Jacques-Benigne Bossuet

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

:rofl::rofl::rofl: from one Limejuicer, Blighty being a Hindustani word doesn't bother me.

That is why the English Language is dominant. It gobbles up new words and is flexible enough to keep the sound, and even the meaning. In the next 15 years when China have finished their adoption of English as a second language (and similar to India one that unifies their communications) you can better your bottom Euro / franc it will be the world language :p

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Maybe they walked into the benefits office to go back to work?? Or did you follow each one to check up on your assumption??

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

It is already and has been so for quite some time

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Honestly I don't think anyone in their right mind at this here forum would/should be in the least offended at your completely understandable annoyance/frustration. (Famous Last Words;))

The problem is that it is not practical to enforce a strict fluency test. I think the premise is that newcomers will/should have a basic grasp of English and that, in time, they will have sufficient mastery of the lingo. I am not familiar as to how rigid or lax the goverment is when it comes to immigration and language skills (or lack therof).

Yes indeed it does seem unfair but these people have come here for a better life as I am sure is your case. Your employer, it seems to me, has to recruit from what is available on the local job market.

So go ask for money as you sure deserve it. But don't fault your employer for hiring these people. Hopefully, in time, your bosses will show their appreciation at your good will during trying times.

PS I spent six months in London in 1999 (whitechapel area) and found the fluency remarkable. In fact some of the English spoken was far better and more understandable than that of the 'locals'.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

Maybe the job centre was in the same building (as is often the case) and they were looking for a job which they'd found hard to come by due to their lack of citizenship?

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

So she's effectively being punished for linguistic skills. Hardly seems fair. Immigrants should have no excuse for not speaking the language - it doesn't boil down to where they come from, it boils down to education - if they care enough to live in a country they should educate themselves sufficiently in the appropriate language. Just because you're English / Canadian doesn't mean you speak perfect English (half the people I know in the UK couldn't even tell you what a verb or a conjunction is!), as it depends on how well you have been educated. Henceforth, immigrants have the opportunity to learn a language and if they can't speak it then it shows a lack of commitment and willingness to adapt to their new country.

Rant over :-)

Anita

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

I knew someone with conjunctionitis once, or (:thumbsup:)should that be once I knew someone with conjunctionitis ?

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

this is a very interesting thread indeed! I would like to add some thoughts from a non native english speaker's point of view, if I may.

I totally agree with the statements that immigrants who are from non-english/french speaking countries should make a big effort to learn the language of the country they move to. However.. not everyone has the same capacity for learning a foreign language. My husband for example, who is Canadian, has tried to learn to speak my native language (german) and he just didn't succeed, because he is just not gifted for languages and there is nothing wrong with it... you cant be good at everything...

I know this is no excuse for your colleagues to not to be able to do their work... maybe they should be assigned jobs where the language capacity is not as vital as in this particular case... talk to your boss and have him shuffle them around....

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

I doubt there's really a problem here; it's pretty clear that the OP is just a nasty racist - the "immigrants are just a bunch of dole scoungers" implication above is pretty typical of people like this.

Re: No more immigrants!!
 

OK lets get back to a more sensible footing on this thread.

Outrage over Eurovision song! Now that has more implications on language harmony than anything else we can talk about!:thumbup: