Labour shortage ?

[Observer II]

With over a million job vacancies in the UK and acute shortages of HGV drivers, fruit pickers etc;  it seems our supply lines are under serious threat, leading to panic buying by the usual suspects.   So what's to be done ?   According to the Guardian, it's all been caused by Brexit, despite the fact that the HGV driver shortage is common throughout the EU.  Perhaps we need to start looking at how we plan for our economic needs, in terms of education and training ?    We've been sending a huge number of youngsters to University, many for degrees of questionable value, whilst training for what we now realise, are essential jobs have been neglected.   So perhaps we need a huge reset, with education being targeted at our overall economic needs rather than the wants of individuals ?   Of course pay and conditions will need to improve to make jobs attractive, but the temptation for Gov and Employers will be to get ready made workers off the shelf, from abroad, as they've been doing for decades.  There will also be a temptation for Gov to waiver visa rules to bring in foreign workers (again) and I predict the Gov will declare an amnesty for all illegal migrants in the UK, to bolster the workforce, especially in hospitality and farming.  The root cause of this fiasco imo, is the inability of our political system to plan beyond the term of office of one Gov, and a reliance on knee jerk decision making based on expediency; and I can't see that changing in the near future.    

[ninearches]

Membership of the European club has not helped our labour market at all . Membership has made various governments lazy & cavalier in sacrificing our own industrial base in order to buy in from abroad at cheaper prices & also the sale of many companies has been used to try & reduce tax to make governments more electable. No thought had been given to how the unemployment would increase which ,over the years, has been massaged downwards by either telling people to claim sickness benefit or by turning full time jobs into part time ones with 2 or 3 jobs being created ,supplemented by benefits. Governments have taken their collective eye off the ball thinking that cheap foreign labour would be the panacea whilst ignoring the need to train our own workforce for meaningful employment. And ,let's not forget, that many of these industrial wipe outs were done to break the ridiculously crippling at that time power of trade unions. 

[Observer II]

So now we have the power of corporations, determined to continue with the employment of cheap labour to protect their profit margins and boardroom salaries.   Time they started thinking of UK Ltd, rather than their own limited interests.    😠

[ninearches]

Dead right ,Obs. 

[Evil Sid]

May be right but how many of these uk companies are actually owned by uk investors rather than foreign investors?

[Observer II]

Capital has always crossed borders. 

[Observer II]

Looking like the Gov will die the death of a thousand cuts; as one crisis is piled on top of another - now were being told, "there's a shortage of butchers"; so no meat for Xmas ?   In the face of such critical attrition, fostered by a Remoaner Media;  Joe Public is beginning to blame it on Brexit (53% in the latest poll), and Labour are starting to talk about a return to the EU.   But amid the trauma of the covid pandemic and the continued EU attempts to sabotage the UK,  we have a Gov without a sense of purpose or determination, incapable of planning and preparation, or decisive action it seems; thus throwing away the support of 17 million leave voters.     😠

[Evil Sid]

3 hours ago, Observer II said:

we have a Gov without a sense of purpose or determination, incapable of planning and preparation, or decisive action it seems;

nowt new there then......

[ninearches]

I think you're listening to the empty words of the opposition Obs who only sit there & criticise while having no solutions or policies of their own.

[Observer II]

Far from it Dave,  the opposition are in a world of their own, prioritising political correctness over political reality, so would be even worse. I'm merely observing the performance of the Gov, who saddled us with the N/I protocol,  a weak response to the migrant invasion and a failure to plan for our future energy and economic wellbeing.  😠

[Confused52]

Obs, I think your list suggests that you are blaming the wrong government with your criticisms. The migrant invasion and lack of energy policy go all the way back to Tony Blair and his human rights lawyer wife. The Northern Ireland protocol comes from the agreements under Theresa May but in truth they could have been made to work if there hadn't been a French Presidential Election in the offing in which the EU chief negotiator knew he intended to become a candidate! So the NI fiasco will stretch out until May 22 after that election I would guess.

The only way to keep the lights on is a baseload of nuclear and top up of renewables. The Greens have made nuclear difficult to build and therefore expensive so Blair put off the decision to replace Magnox until it was too late. It does not matter what the average price and capacity of wind and solar is because it can always fail during a cold night and the grid design must meet the average demand even when it does fail. The constant refrain of use batteries is little more than wishful thinking I'm afraid, the proposals usually refer to a local area not a whole grid. Storage in Car batteries is ridiculous because the time when the generating capacity is stable is the time when you don't need it. It is also grossly inefficient to use millions of low power generators each of which has to be perfectly synchronised to the grid to avoid taking it down, what could go possibly go wrong! 

The current cost of the standby costs is assumed to be the depreciating unusable fossil fuel generator capacity because the renewables suppliers do not provide a standby back up supply. When the fossil fuel and remaining plants are gone the total cost falls on renewables so the price will go up again but the capacity will still not be there so TV, Cars, heat and light will all fail and then it will be so catastrophic that blaming the government will not change the fact that there is nothing they can do.

[Observer II]

I don't detract from that Con;  but we are where we are, and the question is, why are situations not being rectified ?   If the N/I protocol isn't working (for us) then renege on it, and if that means a border between N/I and Eire, so be it.   Brexit was about the independence and integrity of the UK, which should come first and foremost imo.  If as I believe you've correctly stated, the future integrity of our energy supply is at risk, then let's have a crash programme of nuclear build, with a portion of coal fired to bridge the gap. No doubt this will wind up the green lobby, but we have the example of Germany to follow, who scrapped nuclear and are now depending on coal or gas from Russia.  I don't have a problem with our Gov tearing up treaties and withdrawing from HR bodies;  history is strewn with broken treaties based on self interest, so nothing sacred or new.  Expediency is a luxury that Governments can enjoy - if they wish.     😉

[Observer II]

According to Jeff Taylor (Youtube) -  The SM shelves are empty in Brussels due to a 5,000 shortage of HGV drivers;  Germany and France are short on 40,000 drivers apiece.  

[Confused52]

2 hours ago, Observer II said:

According to Jeff Taylor (Youtube) -  The SM shelves are empty in Brussels due to a 5,000 shortage of HGV drivers;  Germany and France are short on 40,000 drivers apiece.  

Who is Jeff Taylor when he is at home? The story about Brussels, and the whole of Belgium, was in the express with pictures. 

[Observer II]

He's at home on Youtube - I don't get papers.

[ninearches]

Apparently the Polish economy is booming so there is no need for workers to look for more lucrative work abroad.

I would not be surprised if  an emergency forces domestic transport  regiment is formed.

[Observer II]

Well BoJo's right about Labour, their only solution is to import more (cheap) labour;  but he'll need to get a grip of a training programme based on the needs of the economy, and scrap the Mickey Mouse University courses.   

[Evil Sid]

4 hours ago, Observer II said:

a training programme based on the needs of the economy, and scrap the Mickey Mouse University courses.   

But who would be working at the fast food places then. They rely on university graduates for their labour force.........🤭

[Latchford Locks]

On 9/26/2021 at 10:00 AM, Observer II said:

With over a million job vacancies in the UK and acute shortages of HGV drivers, fruit pickers etc;  it seems our supply lines are under serious threat, leading to panic buying by the usual suspects.  

I feel we have hit the Perfect Storm at the moment as in labour shortages caused not just by too many unfilled vacancies but folk on sick leave leaving even bigger gaps in the labour market.And with this sodding wave of omicron making people more cautious it would seem that home deliveries of basic needs will be hit by a shortage of staff to pick and then deliver the order.

Has anyone in our group encountered shopping problems yet ; either in store or home delivery ?

 

[Latchford Locks]

At the beginning of the pandemic home deliveries were as rare as hens teeth but in the last 6 months or so availability had become plentiful which for someone in my current situation was ideal .

I just cross my fingers and anything else I have that things don't go back to that again