By Piper Terrett | Yahoo! Finance UK – Thu, Aug 29, 2013 18:03 BST
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver created a stir this week
when he claimed that the migrant workers in his restaurants work harder
than his British employees.
In an interview with Good Housekeeping, he said that migrant workers were “stronger” and “tougher” than their British colleagues who complained about working long hours.
He also claimed that the mothers of his British employees had called him, complaining about the hours they worked.
"The average working hours in a week was 80 to 100,” he said. “That was really normal in my 20s. But the EU regulation now is 48 hours, which is half a week's work for me. And they still whinge about it! British kids particularly, I have never seen anything so wet behind the ears!
“I have mummies phoning up for 23-year-olds saying to me, 'My son is too tired'. On a 48-hour-week! Are you having a laugh?"
Oliver said that if he didn’t have any migrant employees, his restaurants would “close tomorrow” because there wouldn’t be “any Brits to replace them”.
[Four business blunders to avoid]In an interview with Good Housekeeping, he said that migrant workers were “stronger” and “tougher” than their British colleagues who complained about working long hours.
He also claimed that the mothers of his British employees had called him, complaining about the hours they worked.
"The average working hours in a week was 80 to 100,” he said. “That was really normal in my 20s. But the EU regulation now is 48 hours, which is half a week's work for me. And they still whinge about it! British kids particularly, I have never seen anything so wet behind the ears!
“I have mummies phoning up for 23-year-olds saying to me, 'My son is too tired'. On a 48-hour-week! Are you having a laugh?"
Oliver said that if he didn’t have any migrant employees, his restaurants would “close tomorrow” because there wouldn’t be “any Brits to replace them”.
Jamie Oliver is not the first prominent British businessman to say this. Sir Alan Sugar, Amstrad boss and star of The Apprentice
has previously said he thinks migrant workers work harder than British
ones. "Immigrant workers have a different work ethic,” he told the Daily
Telegraph in 2008. “You have to ask yourself why. It goes back to the
fact that in the countries where they come from, if they don't work they
won't survive. We had that need to work in the 50s and 60s but benefits
and the EU ruined it."
In June this year, House of Commons speaker John Bercow sparked a row when he praised the “work ethic” of migrant workers, saying that “in many cases they came with aptitudes and a commitment, an involvement we haven’t always seen in our labour force.”
But is this really a true picture of the UK’s working population? Business owners say it can be difficult to find British workers to fill low paid roles in certain industries because of the safety-net the benefits system provides – sometimes making it less profitable to work than to stay on benefits.
Photis Hajiantonis runs the Freshcut Café in Southwark and struggled to fill staff vacancies. “I’ve been running the café for six years and until recently I couldn’t employ British staff,” he said. “All I wanted was people who could speak the language because you’ve got to know what customers are ordering.
“I used to go to the JobCentre and even advertised in the café window, but I gave up. I am low end – I’m paying the minimum wage - but the people the JobCentre sent me were on benefits and wanted to be paid cash in hand. I can’t do that.”
However, he now employs British workers and is uncertain whether migrants work harder than his British-born staff. “I’ve have staff who were good and staff who were bad,” he said. “I’ve had to sack people, but I can’t really compare them in this way - there’s no definitive answer.”
In June this year, House of Commons speaker John Bercow sparked a row when he praised the “work ethic” of migrant workers, saying that “in many cases they came with aptitudes and a commitment, an involvement we haven’t always seen in our labour force.”
But is this really a true picture of the UK’s working population? Business owners say it can be difficult to find British workers to fill low paid roles in certain industries because of the safety-net the benefits system provides – sometimes making it less profitable to work than to stay on benefits.
Photis Hajiantonis runs the Freshcut Café in Southwark and struggled to fill staff vacancies. “I’ve been running the café for six years and until recently I couldn’t employ British staff,” he said. “All I wanted was people who could speak the language because you’ve got to know what customers are ordering.
“I used to go to the JobCentre and even advertised in the café window, but I gave up. I am low end – I’m paying the minimum wage - but the people the JobCentre sent me were on benefits and wanted to be paid cash in hand. I can’t do that.”
However, he now employs British workers and is uncertain whether migrants work harder than his British-born staff. “I’ve have staff who were good and staff who were bad,” he said. “I’ve had to sack people, but I can’t really compare them in this way - there’s no definitive answer.”
Charlie Mullins (pictured left), founder of Pimlico Plumbers,
says that foreign workers are “hungry to succeed” but makes a careful
distinction between the best quality workers from abroad and a “subset”
of the UK population who he believes are “insulated from reality”
through the benefits system.
“[Oliver’s] right of course, well sort of,” he said. “But what he actually is saying is that people with the gumption to come from far away to make a better life for themselves are tougher than Brits who have been showered with state handouts for most of their lives. It's a no brainer - a hungry man will always be tougher than one living off the fat of the land.”
But Mullins also believes that many British workers are also hard working. “There are tough Brits, plenty of us, some work for me, and some work for Jamie, it's just that as I've been saying for ages - there aren't enough of them to do all the jobs that we have. This is why Jamie and I both employ foreigners in our businesses, and that's why we love them.” He reckons a national funded apprenticeship programme is required to help get businesses the workers they need.
[How Charlie Mullins made millions from plumbing]
However, Guy Watson, founder of Riverford Organics which grows and sells organic vegetables through its box scheme and employs many Eastern Europeans as well as British staff, is concerned that some managers are taking advantage of migrant workers.
“On average, if you took 100 people just off the labour market you’d probably get more from the East Europeans,” he said. “They’re very easy to manage, in fact they have low expectations of how they are managed and that’s the worrying thing.
“People who complain about English labour are often people who are crap managers and don’t invest in their staff. I agree with Jamie Oliver to an extent, but these are the people who had the gumption to travel to the UK, so they are fairly motivated in the first place. If you treat them halfway respectfully their jaws drop. That’s my worry.”
Watson fears that the employment practices in some industries are deteriorating. “I think it can be an excuse for stepping back employment practices almost to Victorian times and I do hear people talking that way in our industry,” he said. “Agriculture has become very dependent on East European labour.”
As a former restaurant owner, he
is also particularly concerned about the industry. “It's terrible what
goes on in the restaurant industry," he said. "Conditions are often
appalling in kitchens. English people don’t want to do that work and I
don’t blame them. They’re often on zero hour contracts and work harder
for their money.
"We do employ some fantastic English people here and if you treat them respectfully [they perform well]. It does require putting more effort into the management than ‘here’s the sink, get on with it’. Jamie Oliver may have had a brief spell of working like that [in a kitchen] but it wasn’t forever.”
"We do employ some fantastic English people here and if you treat them respectfully [they perform well]. It does require putting more effort into the management than ‘here’s the sink, get on with it’. Jamie Oliver may have had a brief spell of working like that [in a kitchen] but it wasn’t forever.”
