Hi Folks,
I don't want to take sides in the "ethnicity/immigration" debate
which has been going on, but I would like to draw attention to
what strikes me as a potentially grave aspect.
It is certainly one where the gathering of good statistical
information would be very important.
I refer to a story in this evening's Cambridge Evening News.
Its context is the large number of (mainly Polish) immigrant
workers in the agricultural sector in Fenland. It starts:
Dyskryminacja (Discrimination)
JOB-seekers in Cambridgeshire are being turned away
because they do not speak Polish, an MP claims.
Malcolm Moss, MP for North East Cambridgeshire,
revealed constituents had told him they had been
refused work in the fens on the grounds they would
not fit in with other factory workers, who were all
migrant workers from Poland.
He slammed the practice as "obvious discrimination".
He said: "A woman came to my surgery and said:
'My daughter went to an agency to get a job and was
told by the gang-master: 'If you don't speak Polish
I can't put you on the assembly line, because they all
speak Polish. They won't accept you, and you won't be
able to communicate with them anyway.'
For the rest, see:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/region_wide/
2007/06/16/bcb2e637-88ca-4d9c-b7f6-9ddd3d5088dc.lpf
[all one line]; equivalently at: http://tinyurl.com/26u8pb
Further down the article:
Replying to a special debate on EU migrants in
Cambridgeshire in the House of Commons, Home Office
Minister Joan Ryan said a special task force had
been set up to address the issues raised.
The debate in question would seem to be:
Hansard
13 Jun 2007 : Column 817
EU Migrants (Peterborough and Cambridgeshire)
4.4 pm
which begins on
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/
cm070613/debtext/70613-0012.htm
[all one line]; equivalently at: http://tinyurl.com/2525oc
The debate continues to Column 844, so is quite substantial.
In the earlier parts there are several reference to Govt
statistics, not all complimentary ... for example:
[Stewart Jackson, Peterborough]:
It bears repeating that the Government's estimate of
the likely level of migration at the time, which was
reiterated by the Prime Minister, was between 13,000
and 15,000. That estimate has been dwarfed by the actual
numbers. According to figures released in July last year,
427,000 migrants from EU member states
13 Jun 2007 : Column 818
have registered to work here since May 2004, and most
reliable estimates put the figure at between 600,000 and
700,000.
[...]
Mr. Vara [NW Cambs]: I am grateful to my neighbour for
giving way. Does he agree that we are simply talking
about figures that the Government are aware of, and
that most commentators agree that a large number of
people are not in the estimate system? The actual
figures are therefore much larger.
And so on ...
As far as "taking sides" may be concerned, and referring to the
incident described in the CEN article, I do find it sinister if
it is the case that immigrant workers (to whom I have no objection
as such) can displace native workers by virtue of speaking a
language that most natives will have no grasp of, and little
hope of learning!
Best wishes to all,
Ted.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[log in to unmask]>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
Date: 16-Jun-07 Time: 22:26:55
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