Non Footy Not about Brexit.."Post-Brexit migration rules disastrous, say manufacturers...."

In spite of the Title my rant is more about the fact that the article on the BBC website says manufactures are moaning because a Govt White paper wants to set a £30 minimum for skilled migrants.. e.g. robotics engineers/programmers, welders, electricians etc.
For decades, technical colleges (as they were then called), were regarded as second best to universities. Grammar schools vs secondary modern were the big divide where failing the 11 plus meant you were consigned to secondary modern in spite of many providing a better background education for future adult life than many grammar schools
The way to advance in business was 'white collar' office, admin and management. 'Blue collar workers, the backbone of manufacturing, -technicians engineers IT programmers etc have always been regarded in the UK as '2nd class' in spite of being the ones who actually produce the goods, and services we need in a modern industrialised society. The fact that many businesses in the UK require' ready made' skilled workers without funding the apprenticeships/training programmes in the search for maximum profits for shareholders and salaries and bonuses for executives AND do not provide remuneration commensurate with skillsets is a national disgrace.
For those who claim to be competitive in a Global market you have to keep wages low - bo**ox!
Germany has always had a high regard for blue collar workers as have many other evolved industrial economies like Japan.

Rant over !!

 

Agree with you last paragraph. One size fits all is daft. 'The points' concept for migrants would be find as long as it is 'weighted' i.,e. look at the skills shortage from the perspective of the labour market and apply multipliers e.g. a clear shortage of bricklayers or plumbers during a planned major house building programme means migrants with those skills could have their points boosted to cross any particular threshold. This multiplier could be removed for future applicants if the skills shortage is deemed to be over. Surely that is not beyond the wit of man given the technology we have for statistical data gathering and forecasting.
It would still need businesses to pay sufficient wages so that the Welfare bill could be cut due to the reduction in 'top up' benefits for workers. In essence that really means currently we are using taxpayers money to supplement businesses wage bills and boost profits. It could be done in the longer term if business costs /taxes and rates could be cut to maintain competitiveness whilst transferring the private sector wages bill to where it should belong i.e. businesses.

 

When you are deemed a cost centre by the bean counters thats where the problems, and not many companies especially in manufacturing charge customers for their Engineering Departments time.

 

Surely spending more money on quality training and education for our current citizens is a double edge sword. Higher calibre of technically trained personnel and ultimately the skills to pass on.
I’m sure we all agree that people should be looked after when out of work through medical, redundancy or sheer bad luck reasons but the obvious pillockers(and I’ve worked a lot on social housing all over Yorkshire and seen them) should be forced into work

 

Really - Pace Electronics (formerly of Manvers/Wombwell) had a very similar structure - top engineers - to be fair often with some critical interpersonal skills challenges could earn real money - and have direct line reports to managers earning 1/3rd of their salary.

Similarly Sony in Basingstoke, and JCB in stoke, Cateripillar Diesel in Peterborough, Astra Zeneca in Macclesfield and GSK in that London - all have similar pay structures where proper engineers can earn a fortune without the BS of leaving behind their core skills and having to enter into management - so I'm sure if every hi tech company I've had experience of has a similar structure for actual engineers then most companies out there do.

The only organisation I don't see it in is the NHS. Why they don't do this with Doctors and Nurses is beyond me - but of course there would be uproar from the Unions if the NHS had a manager - so instead highly skilled nurses and doctors ending filling in holiday forms and shift rota's and sorting out sickness cover - and then we loose skilss and have to bring in other skilled individuals to do the actual work.

If there's a skill shortage and available labour we should train it - invest in improved productivity and automation - and keep the population down to improve our quality of life overall.