Freedom of Movement

Romanians and Bulgarians can be typically different. Not all Poles are educated or bilingual. Remember these are unskilled production line workers.

You would be surprised how many. Cheese factories, biscuit factories, meat factories, prepared food factories, health and beauty product factories, alcohol bottling, pizza factories, cake factories, the list is significantly longer than that. Remember there are a lot of large towns and cities up here, from Lancaster to Liverpool and from Blackpool to Blackburn. Some of these factories will want to expand after Brexit. The nation ate a load more biscuits during lockdown etc etc. Cheese manufacture will grow once we stop buying continental cheese.

I don’t suppose the alcohol bottling factory in Halewood is any different to the one in Chorley.

I repeat. Those that have applied to stay will stay. It’s the new recruits needed to deal with attrition of the workforce and product expansion that said employers will find challenging.

A lot of these workers operate through agencies that are also manned by Eastern European’s

Dont forget the Albi's I can take you to a very nice part of London and show you a sort of tent city where Romanian skilled beggars camp, they ain't semi-skilled, they are skilled I met a Romanian guy in Barcelona who when I asked his job told me quite openly he was a thief

Sometimes reality is missed over distance. When I say cannot speak English I mean it absolutely. When I said less vocabulary than a 3 yo I meant exactly that. The general public sitting at home watching TV do not see the reality. In a good number of cases the level of English is effectively non existent. I kid you not.

I use unskilled as that is the term used. I don’t necessarily agree with it. I came across a Pole who’s English was considerably worse than my wife’s. He was like an Olympic athlete on the production line. Unfortunately he was caught stealing and was fired.

He wasn't skilled, he was unskilled, he was caught there was a most-wanted polish gangster or murderer caught near me not so long ago on a European arrest warrant, been on the run for years. Europeans have changed the face of crime in the UK in certain areas.

Round where i live there have been a number of abandoned cars dumped--just left at the side of the road--usually unlocked. one--a honda--was minus its steering wheel--but full of clothes and allsorts. I photo'd a few--checked the gov site--and sure enough--no tax or mot. i reported them to the local authority. Some were left for months. the council dont really want to know--it costs money to get them removed.

Apparently--they had been bought ? by eastern europeans--never registered / insured / mot or tax. then driven around till they either broke down--or the user went back whence they came from. A few --i suppose --may have been stopped by plod and seized for destruction. ( unoccupied ).

it was reported--here on this forum ( by Micawber i think )--that a number of illegals had been arrested while working at a car wash right across the road from where i lived at the time--up to 2013. most of them couldnt speak any english--and all hot bunked in a rented room near by. the car washer owner--their fellow countryman--owns several such sites..and drove a BMW x5.

( they did a good wash though--and cheap too.)

They talk through their mates who can speak some English and / or the managers themselves are Eastern European and bilingual. I know someone who works nights on his production line and he is the only Englishman on the line and operations and chitchat are conducted in Polish etc.

Yes. They are getting paid according to the rules. No black economy here. Perhaps a loophole in employment law maybe...

Why would an employer choose those people? Easy. Because they are easily hired (until now) And because they are more than willing to jump through hoops for a minimum wage which beats the pants off what they might earn back home.

Oh yes it is all legit. They pay taxes, NI etc. They are also paid by the day so no contract as they work through agencies. This is common across the North West at least. I kid you not.

So with that in mind, how are employers going to replace this currently ubiquitous source of labour in the new year?

These people I speak of, and there are hundreds and hundreds of them, are perfectly legit.

just to repeat my post#31

No just your experience Oss. It’s a fact. The agencies take a cut. They are initially paid by the company itself and then pay the worker deducting tax and NI as they go. It’s all legit. So the employer wins as they only “order” as many people as they need each day. No contract and no commitment. EU workers are quite happy to work on that footing as again it is far better than they might get back home. UK workers can also work on that footing.
The agencies ask how many workers the manufacturer would like and then supply as requested on a daily basis. Problem will be in the new year when it will stop.

Some agencies will also work on a temp to perm basis over 12 or 13 weeks.
Agencies are a very good and flexible way to respond to
Manning levels some employees like agency work above permanent.

a lot of nurses in the NHS are in fact agency placements. Just costs the tax payer more.

I worked for many years in transport for the UK leading mail order company at the time GUS.
It was a regular thing to increase manning levels for Christmas peak and bulk catalogue distribution. I have no doubt it's still the same today across many seasonal trending companies.
Payroles can and still do pay either through the UK tax systems or through the passport holders (EU and in particular Poland) home countries tax system depending on the status of the employee.
Come 2021 we may see some returning to their home country I don't believe it will be a mass exodus, we may also see Johnnie glassback having to find work (great).
I think there will be a small surge in consumer demand post Christmas and Covid then after that who knows.

Exactly. In January there is likely to be a lot of unemployed British Citizens.

Yes there are many ways that agencies work and although it is one of them, it is a very large one or at least it has been up til now.