UK workers the 'laziest in the world' - Polidicks

[B]British workers are "among the worst idlers in the world", a group of Conservative MPs have claimed.[/B] The UK "rewards laziness", does not encourage risk-taking and must strive to emulate the work ethic and low-tax culture in parts of Asia, the five MPs argue in a book due out next month. The authors include Elizabeth Truss and Dominic Raab, both tipped to be promoted in a future reshuffle. "[B]Too many people in Britain prefer a lie-in to hard work,[/B]" they argue. The other contributors to Britannia Unchained are Priti Patel, Chris Skidmore and Kwasi Kwarteng, influential members of the "class of 2010" - MPs elected to Parliament at the last election. [B] Unions described their comments as "ridiculous" and said the most serious challenge facing the economy was a "severe lack of jobs".[/B] The MPs' arguments will intensify the debate in the coalition government about how to reverse the slide in the economy, which has seen the UK slip into a double dip recession. Many Conservatives on the right of the party argue the government's pro-growth initiatives are inadequate and that changes to the labour market, tax cuts and other "supply side" measures needed to boost competitiveness are being held back by the Lib Dems. The five MPs - who are all members of the Free Enterprise Group of Tory MPs - say the UK needs to reward a culture of "graft, risk and effort" if it is to compete with fast-growing nations. [B]"Britain will never be as big as China and Brazil but we can look forward to a new generation, ready to get to work,[/B]" they argue in excerpts of the book [URL="http://www.standard.co.uk/"]published in the Evening Standard.[/URL] "If we are to take advantage of these opportunities, we must get on the side of the responsible, the hardworking and the brave. "[B]We must stop bailing out the reckless, avoiding all risk and rewarding laziness.[/B]" The UK, they argue, is being held back by an excessive public sector, substantial public sector pension liabilities and a welfare system which does not provide sufficient incentives to work. Most controversially, they suggest "poor productivity" is due in part to attitudes to work in the UK - which they compare unfavourably with countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong. "Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world," they write. "[B]We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor.[/B]" [B]Under the EU Working Time Directive, most employees cannot be forced to work more than 48 hours although the UK has an opt-out enabling people to request to work longer if they choose.[/B] The coalition government is currently planning to raise the retirement age for men and women to 67 by 2025, eight years earlier than previously planned. In contrast, new French president Francois Hollande has said he wants to lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 for some workers. Unions said the millions of people out of work or working fewer hours than they wanted would find the MPs' arguments "deeply irritating". "[B]The problem with the UK economy is not its workers, but a severe lack of jobs,[/B]" said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber. "It's not the UK work ethic which is holding the country back but a lack of demand in the economy - a situation that is being made considerably worse by government spending cuts. He added: "Economic success won't come about by turning the screw on British workers, but by investing significantly in jobs, skills and infrastructure for the future." Ministers say efforts to reduce the deficit and to unlock growth in the economy go hand in hand. The government has promised further initiatives to boost employment and investment in the autumn on top of recent announcements on housebuilding, broadband and train building. [URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19300051[/URL]

Pot kettle black.

They're just trying to say that no one wants to work instead of trying to create more jobs for people to actually do.

Maybe the conservatives wouldn't say this if they realised they're the ones who have been walking upon the working class all these years

[quote]British workers are "among the worst idlers in the world", [b]a group of Conservative MPs[/b] have claimed.[/quote] oh come on we knew you were hypocrites, but [i]this[/i] much?

[QUOTE=matt.ant;37300488]"[B]Too many people in Britain prefer a lie-in to hard work,[/B]" they argue.[/QUOTE] Well, I have learned something today. How has this been allowed to continue?

what a crock of shit

Well that's because they haven't polled Norwegian workers yet. "WHAT?! Take an easy-to-do job that only pays $40 000 annually? I'd rather DIE! That there's immigrant work, bring in the Polish!" - Many Norwegians.

The Irony of MPs claiming people are lazy in they're jobs.

That's a nice way to piss off the electorate, torys

Came here to scream "USA USA!" until I realized it was just political nonsense. Sounds like your politicians are [I]too lazy[/I] to work on job creation and want you guys to handle it. Probably better than the fiasco over here though :(

[quote=commenter]Strange time for MPs to criticise others - their summer recess - 17 July to 3 Sep and then of course the conferences by the seaside - between 18 Sep to 15 Oct.. Leading up to three weeks off over christmas.[/quote] [quote=commenter]Do they (MP) exempt themselves from this observation? Successive governements of MP's seem to have been hell bent on divesting themselves of responsibilities & associated graft of governing by shifting it to the private sector. Not to mention being so busy as MP's they can fit in the odd "part time" Directorship or three considerably boosting income.[/quote] [quote=commenter]And which workers in Europe work the fewest hours? Why, those lazy Germans, of course! That's why their economy has been such a flop over the last few decades! What evidence do these Tory MPs have for their assertions? Or it is just vacuous ideology and class prejudice again? We would all benefit if our MPs were a lot lazier - in fact, if they did nothing at all and kept their mouths shut.[/quote] [quote=commenter]The Germans work less hours, take more holidays, have a better quality of life, their children have shorter school days and are more productive. Mainly because they have a better government, better management and an investment culture, rather than a quick profit 'city' culture. Perhaps a fact finding mission might be in order to see what we can learn.[/quote] [quote=commenter]Attendance rates for the MPs accusing us of being lazy: Priti Patel 81.8% Elizabeth Truss 85.3% Dominic Raab 79.1% Chris Skidmore 88.1% Kwasi Kwarteng 87.6[/quote]

typical tory bollocks. I'd be willing to bet that all five of these politicians are career politicians from wealthy backgrounds. I can't imagine any of them have ever experienced the utterly demoralising grind of searching around for jobs and printing off a rainforest's worth of CVs knowing full well that all this effort is futile because [I]there are fifty other people just like me going for the same job[/I].

[QUOTE=JustExtreme;37300911]Attendance rates for the MPs accusing us of being lazy: Priti Patel 81.8% Elizabeth Truss 85.3% Dominic Raab 79.1% Chris Skidmore 88.1% Kwasi Kwarteng 87.6[/QUOTE] At my school the Dominic Raab guy would be in the shit if he only turned up that much.

The unions are such greedy bastards and have so much power that they can pretty much go to stike over everything rather than do any real work, also Roadworks prove this thread.

I wasn't aware that the debunked supply-side mentality had leaked out from the US. And even if their other criticisms held some sort of validity, Tory MPs (and MPs in general) are in no position to criticise others for not working hard.

[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;37301231]I wasn't aware that the debunked supply-side mentality had leaked out from the US. And even if their other criticisms held some sort of validity, Tory MPs are in no position to criticise others for not working hard.[/QUOTE] Their attendance rates speak for themselves. You'd find yourself fired from most jobs if you only turned up 79.1% of the time.

I was quite calm until I read this part: [quote]"we can look forward to a new generation, ready to get to work,"[/quote] You can fuck that idea right off. Have you not seen papers calling the next few years the 'new lost generation'? you raised uni fees, cut teaching budgets, did next to nothing to help the record youth unemployment and that's on top of other cuts you're welcoming us into the world of work with! Nobody works for free just as nobody get's motivated for nothing. If you think you can sit in your fancy government positions and demand that we wade through more shit than you ever have so you can be seen as doing a good job and get re-elected you have another thing coming, you ignorant, deluded, selfish arseholes.

Maybe people are apathetic about working for the benefit of other people, only for any wealth they do manage to generate gets wiped out by miss-management from the banking sector.

And now we know why Garry spends half of his day in the office jerking around

[QUOTE=JustExtreme;37300911][/QUOTE] jesus christ and i got into shit when my attendance was around 92%. 79.1% is just a waste of time

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;37301049]At my school the Dominic Raab guy would be in the shit if he only turned up that much.[/QUOTE] I've known a few Uni students with that sort of attendance. They all failed.

do not fear!, Polish plumbers to the rescue!

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;37301049]At my school the Dominic Raab guy would be in the shit if he only turned up that much.[/QUOTE] I [B]LOVE[/B] arguing like a arsehole about topics I don't give a fuck about,[B] AND[/B] I'm a lazy bastard. Seems like I have a future in politics if it's like this around the world.

All that I can think is Italy. Holy shit are we lazy.

Managers are the most feckless people in Britain, especially in retail. They just walk around in groups pointing at things that need doing and don't bother sorting it themselves. The junior members of staff always look so disheartened, and I could never catergorise them as lazy, just depressed at their situation.

[QUOTE=QwertySecond;37301327]I've known a few Uni students with that sort of attendance. They all failed.[/QUOTE] I've known a few Uni students with exceptional attendance. They never got a job anyway! :v:

[QUOTE=Memobot;37301551]Managers are the most feckless people in Britain, especially in retail. They just walk around in groups pointing at things that need doing and don't bother sorting it themselves. The junior members of staff always look so disheartened, and I could never catergorise them as lazy, just depressed at their situation.[/QUOTE] Indeed, and that is because they are cogs in a bureaucratic hierarchy and are merely there to force others to do the bidding of themselves or the firm. Many firms are like miniature totalitarian states with arbitrarily assigned leaders to dominate the workers. I feel this quote to be appropriate. [quote]It is a common myth that managers, executives and so on are paid so highly because of their unique abilities. Actually, they are so highly paid because they are bureaucrats in command of large hierarchical institutions. It is the hierarchical nature of the capitalist firm that ensures inequality, not exceptional skills. Even enthusiastic supporters of capitalism provide evidence to support this claim. In the 1940s Peter Drucker, a supporter of capitalism, brushed away the claim that corporate organisation brings managers with exceptional ability to the top when he noted that “[n]o institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organised in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership of average human beings.” For Drucker, “the things that really count are not the individual members but the relations of command and responsibility among them.” [Concept of the Corporation, p. 35 and p. 34] Little has changed, beyond the power of PR to personalise the bureaucratic structures of corporations.[/quote]

I'll read the article later I need a lie down first.

[QUOTE=The mouse;37301213]The unions are such greedy bastards and have so much power that they can pretty much go to stike over everything rather than do any real work, also Roadworks prove this thread.[/QUOTE] Yes, because we all know nothing ever gets done when unions have the ability to collectively bargain. That's why they're just constantly on strike!