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How many of your co-workers in the UK are Polish?


Patrycja19 62 | 2,688
6 Nov 2007 #1
How many are Polish and what is the treatment of Polish workers?

would you say good, fair, bad? does everyone work together for fair practice?

didnt clarify this- how many in the uk ..

the uk is full of immigrants, muslim, poles, etc.. same as the states , to which
in my work place, most of my co-workers have some background of polish but
no one is from Poland directly except one girl I know named gosia who came around
10 years ago .

for other nationalities , i say at least 3 percent average and the treatment overall
is exceptional. at least what I have observed.. I am sure there are some bad
incidents in all areas.
postie 7 | 112
6 Nov 2007 #2
From what I've seen... most Poles are treated pretty fairly. But then in the jobs I do... we all do pretty much the same... you can't really pick on someone in a packing line, and make them work any harder, faster or whatever... it's just a packing line.

I think with those Poles I have worked with, some have been happy go lucky, some right miserable sods. And inbetween. And people take them for that. If they yap on the line, then they're liked, if they scowl, they're scowled back at.

Most Brits don't give 2 fucks where someone is from... as long as they're ok.

As for percentages of workers. Hard to say. One place was mostly British, with a smattering of Poles but in highly sought after electronics positions that the Brits had no training in, so for the specialised stuff, 100%, as part of the factory, probably 1%.

Today...in the magazine factory.... about 10%. Maybe.... but not so much on my shift, but i recognised a lot coming onto the next shift, and they were mostly Polish. (from the Pizza place... they're at the magazine place like me, cos work has dried up where we were last week)

Last week... hard to judge. 3 shifts over 24 hours. About, maybe, 50 - 70 Poles. Some days less. As a percentage of the workforce, erm... no idea.. too big a place to know. On my line, on one night, I was the only non-Polish one there and spoke more Polish that night than I did English.

3 years ago, I met my first Poles, and they were a novelty... now... much different. :)
Liza 3 | 111
7 Nov 2007 #3
I think it depends (unfortunately) on the industry... I work for a huge company (FTSE-100) so I would be here until Christmas 2198 working it all out, but there are no Poles in my team. However our company cafeterias are many staffed with Polish, and I know of about six other Poles in my building working in 'white collar' roles, two of which were originally working the cafeteria, but successfully applied for new roles.
Bartolome 2 | 1,085
7 Nov 2007 #4
I'm the only Pole in my company, so I've got not much to say, really.
osiol 55 | 3,921
7 Nov 2007 #5
In a company of about 35 people, we have 3 Poles full time. When you add the fluctuating number of temps, the Pole quantity can increase by another 4, although recently there have been more Slovakians and Lithuanians.

I could also add that there are 2 Hungarians, a Sri Lankan and an Australian. There have also been Germans, French, Dutch and South Africans. Someone in the company might even be Welsh (Mr. Jones).
Liza 3 | 111
7 Nov 2007 #6
Burmese, Sri Lankan, Malaysia, Romanian, Indian, Pakistani, English, Scottish, and one lone Kiwi... well at least in my department
osiol 55 | 3,921
7 Nov 2007 #7
I'm the only Pole in my company

Doesn't this give you some sort of special status that might risk being undermined if another Pole were to join?

More importantly, workers of all nationalities are treated exactly the same. The only difference is with the agency staff who are only on worse terms due to the nature of agency employment. This is unfair, but there is the hope for them that someone will reward good work with a proper job somewhere. This has happened in the past where I work.
telefonitika
7 Nov 2007 #8
3 shifts over 24 hours

true ... but over 4 shifts at wincanton in doncaster i would say there was a mixed collective over nationals ... polish (primarily) slovakians.. czech's ... monogolians ... afrikans .. english ... these were the main nationalities i came to know of when i was there.

Majority though are employed via an agency for wincanton .. and some of them esp the Polish are permanent staff members of wincanton now and some even have FLT licences this includes the females i regularly saw three females operating a FLT that went to the height of the warehouse .. some are Health and Safety Reps and First Aiders :D
PolskaDoll 28 | 2,098
7 Nov 2007 #9
If you ignore the senior management and directors (easy done) of the place I work then at least 25% of the workforce is Polish, in varying job roles. And it works just fine :)
ShelleyS 14 | 2,893
8 Nov 2007 #10
No Polish where I work
Kilkline 1 | 689
8 Nov 2007 #11
I work in a financial institution in London and theres a few Polish women. I didnt realise they were at first as they all have English surnames. :))
szarlotka 8 | 2,206
8 Nov 2007 #12
50% of the full time employees in my company are Polish.

20% of the equity in the company is in Polish hands

About 85% of the contract employees of the company are Poilsh
jareck8
8 Nov 2007 #13
do you have any co workers from south india
jareck8
8 Nov 2007 #15
what about brazil
Daisy 3 | 1,224
8 Nov 2007 #16
do you have any co workers from south india

yes, from Kerala
jareck8
8 Nov 2007 #17
i have noticed mainly people speaking indian portugese and polish in london
AvJoeUK
8 Nov 2007 #18
I work in an office above a factory, almost all of the temps are foreign. But hey even when I say a simple goodmorning or hello they dont bat an eyelid, how wude!
jareck8
8 Nov 2007 #20
I work in an office above a factory, almost all of the temps are foreign. But hey even when I say a simple goodmorning or hello they dont bat an eyelid, how wude!

you gotto be bilingual, dzien dobre, buenos dias and i thnk in arabic its soemhting like sbahkhairat
OP Patrycja19 62 | 2,688
8 Nov 2007 #21
pick on someone in a packing line,

that isnt what I was getting at.. in some instances, minorities are treated differently
( unfortunately) and the person who manages is the one who is/has to deal with
punishment accordingly.

I have seen in my work witnessed the good and the evil and seen people shot down
for not being able to communicate accordingly with the public. to me this is unfair and
I have also witnessed the good come out in several who came together to bring this
to someones attention.. i just wonder how its dealt with in other countries.. to which
I am sure even someone from America would have same experiences with jobs in
Europe and or communication ..
postie 7 | 112
9 Nov 2007 #22
and what is the treatment of Polish workers?

Then I don't quite understand what you mean Patrycja. I thought the original question, that I've quoted, meant are they treated any differently to UK workers, in either a more favourably way or more specifically, treated worse.

As I said... in my experience, everyone is treated equally.
rafik 18 | 589
9 Nov 2007 #23
4 in my company.this is including myself:)
95%(!) in my wife's company.this is a food processing company.
lennyd
9 Nov 2007 #24
no thank god i don't think the lads would take it if we had polish working with us ,all my colleagues have bad feelings towards the poles and the EU
osiol 55 | 3,921
9 Nov 2007 #25
all my colleagues

You don't have any.
starchild 2 | 120
9 Nov 2007 #26
In our company it is 60% Polish, 40% English. It works perfectly, the best team we have had so far.
AvJoeUK
9 Nov 2007 #27
you gotto be bilingual, dzien dobre, buenos dias and i thnk in arabic its soemhting like sbahkhairat

Then they'll probably go in the Queens English, "what the bloody hell are you on about damn foreigner!"
osiol 55 | 3,921
9 Nov 2007 #28
Ni Hao! (tone must be correct or this might mean something rude)

We've got a couple of Slovaks at the moment. They're good too, but I'm not going to seriously start learning Slovakian.
Bartolome 2 | 1,085
9 Nov 2007 #29
Doesn't this give you some sort of special status

I don't think so. However my boss asked me if any of my friends were looking for a job, because he was fed up with some (quote) 'halfwits' working for him.

that might risk being undermined if another Pole were to join?

Since I don't think I've got some special status, there's nothing to undermine, I suppose.
fused - | 5
30 Jun 2010 #30
i have noticed mainly people speaking indian portugese and polish in london

They were probably pissed up cockneys. :)


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