Don't blame foreign workers for our woes

When Rod went to the supermarket on the bank holiday who did he think would be working? The States voted for seven day trading. They call it progress. I do not.

Workers have always expected wages and contracts on offer or not taken the job. It is only the self-employed that dictate their wages and hours. It is wrong to blame foreign labour. They work for the rates on offer. They pay their tax and social rates – often told of pensions that they cannot possibly get. You need to have 45 years' contributions for full pension. The department must have banked hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years. I wonder how many overseas pensions they pay out?

Rod has fallen into the current trap of blaming overseas labour for Guernsey's problems. It is rife in Britain and Europe, where in some cases it has turned violent. Hitler used the Jews to blame for Germany's problems. It started small but look how it finished.

Rod, play Land of Hope and Glory, the sacrifice of our grandparents. They were not just fighting for Guernsey's freedom but for the whole of Europe. We have always had guest workers. Rod is my age. Does he forget all the Irish and when all the waiters were Italians or Austrians, then the Portuguese, now the Latvians and Poles? They are all excellent workers in their own right. They have come from poor countries to make a living.

Guernsey has made money on these people – from the Irish in the quarries and later in the tomato greenhouses, then the Portuguese in the growing and later hotels, to the current workforce in shops, hotels, cleaning etc.

In most part they have been exploited, with low wages, long hours and bad working conditions, not to mention accommodation. The attitude of 'most', 'not all', is at least they have a job, better than their own country. Nice.

Most Guernsey people do not know how these people live. Sixty hours a week, room-sharing etc. Why do they put up with it? A lot of workers are not just keeping themselves; children, mum and dad, even grandparents may be reliant on them – no Guernsey-type benefits in their countries.

The island needs these workers.

How do you think these workers feel when locals say you are bad people, you take local jobs. They do jobs most locals would not do.

Rod talks about Guerns being badly treated and dictated to.

Get real. Talk to one of the older Latvians who lived under communist rule. They were still fighting in 1956 for their freedom, not being free until the '90s.

The island is in a bad way, so is the rest of Europe. The current States are not bad-bully people. They face an impossible task. We will all pay for bad island management in the past.

Yes, it could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. Let's hope that none of our people will ever be wage slaves in another country. We do not need to play the blame game, just get on with it. I own my home and live on a States pension only. I worked all my life with no handouts.

MR J. GOULD,

No. 74,

Hauteville.