To find Miliband's today statement about "getting it wrong" outrageous

[olimpia]

Absolutely infuriating! Eastern Europeans often do jobs that English people don't want because they involve night shifts e.g. the foodndustry or looking after the elderly.
Eastern Europeans are NOT on the same footing as British people when it comes to benefits so they can't even be said to be a "burden" on society. (before someone contradicts me on this I just want to say that I work in this field so I know a thing or two about benefits for foreign nationals).
It's a disgrace that Miliband felt the need to apologise for this.

I see he has support from the BNP and UKIP so he must be doing something right.

They do, but you've also got to see that there's already very limited jobs in the UK. There arent enough jobs for the people that are already here, never mind people immigrating.

And the fact that immigrants are more willing to work for very poor pay and in shitty conditions makes them ripe for the picking.

He is such a dick

Eastern European migrant workers are willing to do jobs that UK nationals don't want to do. Those jobs need someone to do them. Yes, they are more open to exploitation as a result. Yes, the disincentives to seasonal work in the welfare benefit system need to be addressed. Not that either of those issues were a concern of Miliband's today.

Thinking it was not wise to have unlimited immigration from Eastern Europe after the entrance of 10 new EU member states does not say anything about Eastern Europeans or how you feel about them.

"Eastern European migrant workers are willing to do jobs that UK nationals don't want to do."

Or, more accurately, they are willing to do work that UK nationals can't afford to do.

Mango how does anyone actually know that though. That they do jobs that 'uk nationals don't want to do'. I know many people who would scrape horse poo off the floor for 12 hours a day if it meant getting paid. People keep making that assumption, that they're doing jobs because uk nationals won't. That isn't the case at all.

Fact of the matter is theyre easy to employ because they won't complain

It goes round in circles really.

When we won the Olympic bid, the LA's here were promised lots of building apprenticeships for school leavers and there were to be 'local jobs for local people'.

The LA's were let down entirely and what they were promised didn't materialise...and a huge proportion of jobs went to experienced Polish builders who could afford to work for peanuts because they had left their wives and children behind. They would generally house share...thus keeping expenses to a minimum and then send their wages back home where they were worth far more than they are here.

The anti British statements we keep hearing about "Oh but EU's work so much harder", are often excuses put about by those who really just want to pay less wages.

Actually, I think it's right he's looking at the other side of it, the reasons more came than were planned by the labour government is because employers welcomed them with open arms, why Eastern Europeans get the jobs rather than UK people is more important than reducing the numbers of Eastern Europeans coming (if they can't get a job, they won't come, regardless of what quotas are). Surely it's more that employers were basically given a way out of treating the working poor well. That is a Labour issue. Labour are supposed to be the party that looks after the British working class, not the party that looks after the business owners.

*EE's

"The anti British statements we keep hearing about "Oh but EU's work so much harder", are often excuses put about by those who really just want to pay less wages."

Bingo!

Good point WorraLiberty!

I lived in a house share. I had a room to myself, in the other room there were FIVE Lithuanian lads sharing a box room, sleeping on rugs on the floor. All they spent their money on was weed and ale ha.

It makes me a little queasy to see the British working classes slagged off by people who obviously think they are being really right on about immigration.

I think people have a hard time distinguishing the 'THEY TOOK OUR JOBS!!!' people from those (like me, and maybe you?) who have looked at what's going on, made sense of it and realised the British working class are getting p*ssed on.

i think that unless you are actually doing min wage work then you will have no idea just how saturated the lower skill job market is with immigrants, and as mentioned because they tend to accept dire conditions that uk workers know are against the the law which tends to encourage employers to employ them over nationals.also ctc and wtc are payable to any worker living in the uk. ps i know this because i am a low paid worker whos dp cant get warehouse work for love nor money.

Exactly starpine. It's easy to find the miliband thing 'outrageous' if you've never had trouble finding a job or aren't working for minimum bloody wage in shite circumstances.

I've only recently moved up from being a minimum wage warehouse worker, something that I'm thankful for. Before that I was a carer, I was on 4.93 an hour. I couldn't ask for more money, because they had a constant flow of Nigerian workers who would work for that.

I think the argument that any kind of opposition to open borders means you are a racist has been a wonderfully effective piece of propaganda.

Eastern Europeans do seem to work has order in my experience, which is admittedly limited.

I have known four eastern Eurpoean girls who were qualified physiotherapists in their home countries, that have worked as assistants in this country yet still done much of the work of a qualified physio. They had the same job titile as i did, along with the same pay, but a very very different workload. This was in private practice btw, not NHS. They worked 'under supervision' although that supervision seemed to be very lax, and Apparantly there were 'gaps in their knowledge' that prevented them from getting proper physio jobs. As well as the fact that their qualifications weren't recognised.

The fact is, that they were all being exploited. But they knew that and were happy about it, because they got to be here and experience more luxury than they ever had before. The hard work didn't bother them, they had a much stronger work ethic than most of the British workers there.

Order = harder! Poxy iPad!

Of course he is right. People were concerned about immigration. These people were not silly idiots, who thought that' Poles' were taking all their jobs. The jobs that no one wanted to do. They were just concerned about immigration. And all their concerns were dismissed as 'ignorant bigots'. Which they were not. They were highly educated , and just thought that care was needed. And just wanted to discuss and look at the issues, including the fact that the UK 'open doors policy' was once of the most lax in Europe, or so it was seen to be. And they have been proved right.
And Ed miliband, is just jumping on the bandwagon, finally admitting, because he can't deny anymore, the facts and figures over how many people have entered the UK, that Labour were dismissive of peoples concerns.

And what exactly is wrong with having high numbers of people from abroad come to the UK legally, finding work and contributing to society?

Who said it was wrong? No-one did. We're just saying Miliband isn't wrong and it's an issue that needs to be addressed.

Actually, the numbers are TOO high. You obviously have never struggled to find a job, or are struggling in a poorly paid one.

In theory, nothing is wrong with it. But when we have such high unemployment, surely it's just common sense to not invite more workers into the country?

What is wrong with it is that they are undercutting British workers, and keeping British people out of jobs.