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Portuguese Brickies On 1K A Week!







Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
23,657
Was NSC paid the £50 for this advert ?
 


Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
I'm thinking of going back to Mechanical Engineering, I did a city & guilds 228 in mech engineering years ago. I also worked for a local company where I was a trainee toolmaker. I decided to see what they have at Brighton College of Technology in Engineering, looks like that has all gone too. It's terrible isn't it, and they wonder why they can't get people with skills anymore. Closet place is Crawley now.

It's £750 a unit now at Crawley College.
 








BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
Would I be? What do you know of my politics?

Well you seemed so offended by them highlighting their nationality, why ?

Whether you think that is a reflection on immigration taking/blocking British jobs or an example of our own workforce not qualified enough, their nationality is crucial to the story.
 




SIMMO SAYS

Well-known member
Jul 31, 2012
11,720
Incommunicado
£200 for a 'water rat' seems about right and £300 upwards for gas or specialist (white goods, bathroom install/tanking etc)

In my (non bias..) opinion of course.

Never been called a 'water rat' in forty years of work----------seen a few dead ones tho:eek:
 








virtual22

Well-known member
Nov 30, 2010
422
What about Finnish bricklayers? Do they get the same amount but no matter how bad the wall is going up they get to stay on, even though it's falling apart around them? Of course, he'll tell you "it's only one brick away from being a solid wall", and "he is working with tools that are not up to job" so I guess he gets let off, until the whole house falls in!
 




Southern Scouse

Well-known member
Jul 21, 2011
2,024
What about the Portuguese people who I deal with every day who work 6 and a half days a week, who after deductions take home about £3 an hour and are too afraid to say anything in case they lose their job?
Probably not news worthy ............
 


Frampler

New member
Aug 25, 2011
239
Eastbourne
What this story displays is the short-termism of British industry. During the recent recession, housebuilding largely ground to a halt. Many brickies left the trade or emigrated, and training places for new entrants were slashed. It's as if someone thought that the need to build things had permanently diminished, rather than been temporarily reduced by a lack of available capital. Now that the construction sector has picked up, there's a skills shortage. Depressingly predictable.
 


Creaky

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2013
3,843
Hookwood - Nr Horley
Was listening to BBC London today where they had a call-in on the subject.

One guy phoned in and listed all his qualifications and experience as a brickie but was still unable to get any work - he was saying how he couldn't understand how these Portuguese brickies were earning this sort of money - it was suggested that he ring the company concerned, (details were given) - his response was basically that he hadn't thought of that :facepalm:
 




BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
What this story displays is the short-termism of British industry. During the recent recession, housebuilding largely ground to a halt. Many brickies left the trade or emigrated, and training places for new entrants were slashed. It's as if someone thought that the need to build things had permanently diminished, rather than been temporarily reduced by a lack of available capital. Now that the construction sector has picked up, there's a skills shortage. Depressingly predictable.

Should it not follow that the British bricklayers are on another site earning £1200 per week.

I am not sure that it is British Industries problem, unless of course we have 1000's of unemployed brickies, this sector has picked up and a short term shortage of brickies means a) Great bargaining power for the brickies b) some developments need to recruit from further afield.

You can never tell if and when and for how long there might be a property slump, why would you learn the trade if the property market doesnt recover for say 5,6,7 or 10 years, its a risk for those thinking about doing it.

I would go for another trade every time, taps and wires are perishables and walls well kinda dont fall down very often.
 


Gregory2Smith1

J'les aurai!
Sep 21, 2011
5,476
Auch
I worked on building sites back in the Uk for 25 years and with many different nationalities and one thing I did learn that was the majority of them were what we call in the trade 'line monkeys'

meaning ****ing useless,glorified block layers

I know quite a few decent face brickwork lads in the UK that don't earn nothing like a grand a week

but of course all the experts on here that have never set foot on a building site know far more than me
 


BensGrandad

New member
Jul 13, 2003
72,015
Haywards Heath
I can assure anybody that electricians on new housing sites arent on anything like that wage. In fact the rate is dropping due to the influx of cheap labour from eastern europe.
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
70,350
Wouldn't training up homegrown brickies involve employers having to invest in its workforce? Hows that going to happen under a regime that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing?
 




pauli cee

New member
Jan 21, 2009
2,366
worthing
When I was 18/19, I was earning that as a labourer on German building sites, happy days indeed!
The place was flooded with Brits, just hard workers trying to find the best opportunity for themselves???
 


fataddick

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2004
1,602
The seaside.
Article in the papers a couple of months ago said the top British brickies now earn the equivalent of 100k a year (ie two grand a week). It's all supply and demand, innit. With 200,000 new homes being built in the UK brickies are in short supply, you have to pay more to get them, import some from overseas, etc. All the Mail's story demonstrates is the extent to which migrant workers are helping to boost the UK's economic recovery.
 


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