1

Islander

There was I; as taught at school;

That the only living creature buried it’s head in the sand, was an Ostrich

How wrong I was_ for now we find we have even more supposedly educated people doing likewise.

And would you believe it, To be told they couldn’t have an answer now.

It truly shows what kind of people are supposed to justify their presence in a ruling body.

Come on people refuse to accept this rather vague contract–or you will forever be paying out.

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3

notsostoopid

To the Guernsey States…..Here you go again, just demand the company that gets the contract that all Drivers,Basic Labourers,Canteen Staff have to come from Guernsey, what is wrong with you !!!
START CARING FOR YOUR WORKING CLASS PEOPLE !

And for part 285 of how to get the Guernsey person not too vote in an Election is ………….

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5

flyer

The company cannot provide answers !!!!!!

so if they cannot do this, they are either unsure as to where to source their materials and sub contractors, or are going to source all things from off island!
Of course they know, how can you price for a job, without first getting prices for materials, and sub contract staff, unless, this 80 odd million is just a off the top of the head figure and hope it gets done for that price!

The states should grow a set! and tell this firm that local staff and materials MUST be used as a stipulation in the contract.

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7

geezerboy

stilleto. my point was ,not to deny the unemployed people of guernsey, that they should have a chance with any work that arises from the airport runway contract, and not bring in a labour force of there own.

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9

flyer

Just to make it clear, on my previous post, when i say local staff, i meant local contractors, and suppliers, where ever possible.

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11

Toady

Beanjar

I personally take offence at your comment , after all I am one of those 400 “freeloaders” as you so kindly put it.

Of the 400 available people my guess would be that there are less than 50 who are suitable for that type of employment once you have taken into account these things , age , sex and physical ability. Now forgive me if I am wrong but your description of one of those “freeloaders” almost matches a few of the hardworking lads who work at Ronez and similar places so dont go discriminating against people with facial tattoo’s or any other thing just because its suits a high and mighty you .

How do I spend my time while freeloading ? well how about writing in excess of 200 applications over the past 3 months for jobs from anything upwards of licking a sewer clean with my tongue and having to suffer the indignation of some of the biggest companies in this island not even bothering to email me a “not even if you were the last person alive” type response.

Until nearly 2 years ago I had not even had half a day without a job so please DO NOT tar everyone with the same brush, or at least all I can hope is that you never find yourself in the same position as me. I.e. middle aged and having to listen to ignorant people shouting “get a job” while I wait for the Social Security Office to open, because maybe one day it will be you in the same position, no-one expects it BUT it DOES happen.

Employers who may be reading this , Can I just say that that if you advertise a position vacant and you get replies PLEASE take the time to at least acknowledge someones applications even with a polite “Thanks but No”. I have applied for many positions with companies who rely on me as a customer needless to say that I wont use the companies who cannot bother a reply – so when you have to close through lack of business please don’t expect sympathy from me.

There will always be “real” spongers out there but I have paid my contributions for almost 40 years and wish to return to doing so as soon as possible. I would be quite happy to name and shame the companies who do not acknowledge my existance but feel that the Press would not allow it through

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13

Toady

Beanjar.

Indeed I did see that and can only comment on that your post seemed to be discrimatory towards people with facial tattoo’s , OK I admit that some people you describe will be in the category we all despise a lot of people who obtain body art do so purely for indiviualism ( I do not have any body art of any type just to clarify )
I currently work a very minimum of hours (10 hrs p.w) for a company who have taken a “chance” on me but due to medical problems in my past very few employers will even give me time of day and I literally have to plead to get attention . If I was to not include the 18 months of ill health on my CV I could get taken to court for lying to get a job.

Thank you to the GP moderator who emailed me , some of the worst employers who do not even bother to respond to applications are as follows :- Healthspan , Sandpiper , Specsavers , Civil Service,( who only send you a compliments slip to acknowledge receipt ) Channel Islands Co-op etc. etc. , those are all ones that I have made MORE than one application to Having previously worked for Sandpiper I was surprised to not even get a reply and I know my email was read due to the superb little programme called MSGTAG which allows you to know the exact second an email you send has been read and I recommend anyone who is applying for jobs via email tries this out.

TSB were very kind and gave me an interview but I was too qualified for their position … so you can imagine that I do have a little common sense – you just cant win ! HMV (who replied -apparantly I wasnt in their “desirable” category )

Anyway, my real point in this is that you cannot just pigeonhole people in a single category because they are claiming benefits , I agree, it is frustrating when you see spongers but saying they can all do the work as on this forum is ludicrous , I physically could not do the work that is involved (although I would happily do their admin work )

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15

Paul Le Page

Toady – I don’t think Beanjar was being discriminatory against people with facial tattoos.

He was merely stating a fact that, like it or not, people so endowed have precluded themselves from certain lines of work.

Most office environments I’ve worked in insist that all tattoos are covered. No problem for most but a bit difficult for the facially tattooed unless they happen to also be a particularly conservative Muslim woman. In addition a lot of the hospitality industry wouldn’t be too keen to employ someone with facial tattoos in customer facing roles. That’s two major local employment sectors out of the window already – which if you’re looking for work has made your life a heck of a lot harder.

Personally I don’t have a problem with facial tattoos – or any tattoos for that matter. I wouldn’t have one myself but it wouldn’t bother me one jot if someone with a facial tattoo served me in a restaurant or my local bank. Society in general takes a different view though and unless an anti-tattoo-discrimination law comes in I can’t see that changing any time soon.

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17

Toady

Paul and Beanjar

I certainly do hear what you are saying and I do agree with both of you on some points, we all do have opinions and no one person will be exactly the same as another – that’s what makes us unique.

I think you will find that most employers will “turn a blind eye” to tattoo’s if the candidate is correct , indeed my bank manager a few years ago had his hands heavily tattooed. I remember it wasn’t so long ago when if you had visible tattoo’s you could not enter a certain bar , despite the doormen having plenty visible.
Certainly the employer I do a few hours for has this written policy, however a number of employees do have visible tattoo’s including a considerable “behind the ear” one and they are not male., in fact one is management recently recruited

It was the whole assumption that generally , benefit claimants are lazy , heavily tattooed thugs who live in cheap accomodation , I have no doubt this is true in some cases – maybe I should not read forums late at night when tired and grumpy :-)

If you were to turn the above assumption in a different direction and say that employing females is no good as they will go off and get pregnant then hopefully you might get why I read it the way I did, any pigeon-holing of any type can be taken the wrong way

and YES Beanjar , I do agree with you on the spending benefits on tattoo’s subject , if you look far into the archives on here you will see that I posted something about a year ago regarding a former colleague who couldn’t afford to get his children’s teeth seen to but went and got a £600 ( hidden ) tattoo done after the GSSA had paid for the dentist.

A la perchoine

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19

Islander

Stiletto!

I am not trying to make a big thing of it, the States does that every day for us, and do you know what? we pay them to do it.

So who are the fool hardy.

Now back to that airport work:
May I say this
If you were going to have work done on your premises, you would expect, in fact demand to know if it would be using labour from local pool?

In fact before anything is signed you would want to know if it was Monkeys doing the job, or would the monkeys be in charge.

You know it beggars belief that the States have no Idea about the ways of the business world.

Surely you must be Joking States to say you have had no answer, demand it: Or drop the whole thing

Use local Labour, and if necessary and expert overseer, drop that COMPANY that SEEMS TO BE AMATEURS IN THE THINKING WAYS.

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21

Islander

Stiletto!

I’m afraid that if we Guernsey people follow your advice and wait till we get more information, then we’ll lose out.

Yes because say what you will these firms are in it for profit, nothing else,
They don’t give a monkey’s for anyone else.

It’s time Guernsey had a spring clean,

Starting with our Noble States.

Then all the hangers on we seem to have accumulated since the war years.

Clean up and let Guernsey breathe again,

We are whom we are, had enough of dictators, so do as we want or take that ‘non Guernsey fast boat service out.

I’ve heard enough of all your tripe, we’re not your 3rd world that have to listen. we are whom we are, and you’renot ours.

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23

martynl

The local haulage industry cannot provide the amount of haulage that will be required!!
Ronez cannot produce the amount of material required – what they can produce is a drop in the ocean compared with what is needed – and it’s the wrong type. And will locals want to work nights? they don’t now, so why would they want to in the future.
Critics need to live in the real world of business, where we have to make it work!!

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25

flyer

I believe that there was a report in the press ,stating that the cost was so high , due to the high cost of materials and labour in guernsey! since it seems that very few local businesses and staff are to be used, maybe now we can see a reduction in the £80,00000 that this is going to cost. (obviously there will be an overspend of at least 30 million, as on every states project, but that will be another topic to discuss in 2-3 years time.)

i cannot stop myself thinking that we are going to be overcharged for this runway extension, as everything quoted so far seems to have the usual 40-50% guernsey loading, yet no guernsey business will occurr.

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