The Park Plaza hotel on Albert Embankmnet charges £155 for a mid range room on a Saturday night. The cheapest room on any night is £100.

Meanwhile, the low paid cleaner who has done a whole week's work on minimum wage in the said hotel gets her pay docked because she hasn't cleaned enough rooms. She ends up with just £145! Nobody will care because she is one of the underclass – a migrant worker. The employer knows they will roll over because of this.

I'd understand the hard nosed boss witholding pay if the business was teetering on the edge of failure or whose business model operates around a tight margin, but London Hotels charge shocking sums. Sure there are other costs, but hotel staff have always got paid beans, so where's all the money going?

I have a friend who works in a local hotel and her nasty boss has got rid of all the English workers (except her) and replaced them with migrant workers. He's done this purely to make more money. My friend is under pressure to leave, but as she has been there for 20 years, so the boss can't get shot of her without paying her a significant redundancy. It's a deadlocked situation, she isn't caving in to intimidation – a real strain she could do without! The only thing that prevents the boss giving her the shove is that she is due to retire in a year or so. I'm sure he would have created a disciplinary scenario for her by now. If this does happen, she'll have him for constructive dismissal.

We Brits get acused of being lazy and fussy about low paid jobs. We apparently have a bad attitude too. This is largely nonsense IMHO! Employers pick who they hire, not the other way round! My experience is that they will always opt for the cheaper staff.

A British worker who rents or owns a typical small home and pays all the charges and taxes due to live finds his/her outgoings far outstrip the paltry sums on offer from the minimum wage. These people often require income support, thus putting pressure on the public purse.

IMHO the cheap migrant labour has given companies the opportunity to make more money and to have an easier time of it because these people won't cause any trouble when they get abused. Which idiots allowed this situation to arise???

We a huge void between those who have and those who don't. Why can't we have a little moderation?

I wouldn't be able to afford my nice new 911 if it wasn't for cheap migrant workers.

"Wah wah wah, I can't afford to feed my family" FFS Do these people know how much a 911 does to the gallon?!

eh?

Should've paid more attention at school so they didn't end up as a cleaner 😉

Does she a ride to work then? 😉

did the bnp get a seat in stw too?

Hmmm, so it's a bnp thing to highlight that employers use low paid migrant workers with no knowledge of their rights or union support and that these employers force out current staff through intimidation and changes to Ts&Cs to enable them to do so.

Don't worry though, we'll soon outsource all the manufacturing to China and India where it's cheap, the design can follow too as that can be done locally to enable a more rapid response to changes in design and fashion, hey we'll set up the helpline out there as well as that's a lower cost and hey as they've all got jobs over there we can get them to buy our product too, as no one works in the UK anymore….

Not the (legal) migrant workers fault or to be honest the employers however morally dubious their employment practices. This is what we have a government for, to curb and chanel market forces. If the minimum wage was set at a more realistic level, properly enforced and the fines for non-compliance being really punitive it wouldn't matter who was doing the job.

Spongebob, it's not greed as such that sets low wages it's the market. If the hotel owner couldn't get anyone to do the job for minimum wage they'd have to pay more.

I do get a little tired of hearing people accusing business people of being greedy, the whole point of most businesses is to make as much money as possible. They are not there for the benefit of the customers or staff (although a good business will recognise that treating both staff and customers well will in the long run mean even more money).

Some businesses are taking advantage of people during this recession.

For example, have a guess at the going rate for delivering 1,000 Ikea catalogues …

£12

To be clear, delivering door to door on foot in a designated area.

My company (doesn't employ migrant cheap labour), made 240 million last year and now just because profits are down 25% are laying people off left right and center – thats life/greed! its not just migrant workers who are being shafted.

Does she singletrack? Does she Singlespeed? no.. Who feking cares.. FFS the world was been like this for as long as time, low £ labour = high profit… a lot of comapnies will try it on!I dont agree with it but if your daft enough to try your luck in a new country and expect the GOLDEN pot of cash…. your daft as the brush your holding!

The day the world implodes on itself and there is nothing we can do to stop it (subject to global warming :lol:) the rich will be richer the poorer poorer and the rest of us will still be getting on with it somewhere in the middle blaming everyone else, just 😀 and give the world a 2 fingerd salute

unfortunately since the dawn of human civilization,there have always been people who are not happy with what they have,so wanted more(i.e power,control,wealth.)that's why the world is like this today.(going to get controverseal now!!!)just think of things like the monarchy,the church,big conglomerate businesses e.t.c,(i remember hearing from a documentary that0.001% of the world,owns 99.999% of the world's wealth,or something like that?),that doesn't surprise me in the least.if the governments really wanted to help the poorest,then they would have done so years ago!!!it's all about control and power over countries,for it's resources e.t.c.i know that people won't agree with my views,but i just wanted to give my views on the subject!!!

A big round of applause for all you labour voters! Thanks!!

Should've paid more attention at school so they didn't end up as a cleaner

How do you know what qualifications the cleaner has got. My niece has recently qualified as an physiotherapist. Guess what she is doing after 18 years of education and training yup you guessed it she is working as a cleaner in a hospital during the day and working as a waitress at nights. By the way try making an appointment for physiotherapy on the NHS the waiting list is about 3 months because of a shortage of physios.

Some businesses are taking advantage of people during this recession

I find that they take advantage of people, and not just the low paid ones, all the time. I think we are slowly beginning to realise what unions are for again.

My company (doesn't employ migrant cheap labour), made 240 million last year and now just because profits are down 25% are laying people off left right and center – thats life/greed! its not just migrant workers who are being shafted.

Welcome to capitalism. One day we will get the balance right, but until those who truly pull the political strings are removed…

It's just NOT FAIR (toddler tantrum)

OP – WGAF?

The Goverment claims immigration will continue, as we need the skilled workers that this brings.

With spiralling unemployment, is this really the case and even so, how many immigrants actually hold any skills whatsoever?

Still, at least if the immigrant workers are unhappy with the situation they find themselves in, they can always clear off home again. I hear we are set to offer them £1700 and a free flight to do so if the media are to be believed. Mind you, what's £1700 compared to a years worth of benefits for a family of 10?

By the way try making an appointment for physiotherapy on the NHS the waiting list is about 3 months because of a shortage of physios.

No worries there. I've got fantastic private health cover 8)

The big corporations exploit anyone they can get away with exploiting. That's capitalism for you. Allegedly the wealth 'trickles down' although all I seem to get splashing down on me from above is —-.