[Jason Atwell]

what are everyones views on the impact that people from europe entering the uk could have on window cleaning?

Just been approached by a pole outside tesco wanting to know about w/c?

[H h20]

I have got several poles working for me,a 6ft pole,a 20ft pole a 38ft pole and a 45ft carbon pole lol  ,Gaz

[P®oPole™]

I have seen them already mate,  

In London and you will see it all, I have seen car loads of them (four men), two ladders, cracking on. They have clocked it. Its only a matter of time before there on all you guys rounds, Charging pennys and generally giving us a bad name!!!!

Not to metion all the complete an utter muppets I see daily calling themselfs shiners, and risking the lives of themselfs and innocent people day in day out.

ProPole

[ronaldo]

No !

[macmac]

they should be round up and sent back (yes seriously) rang a customer last week, big farm house 55 quid job 2 monthly.she says oh, just do the tops this time i've had some polish people come and do the bottoms!!

shocked at this i replied - well tell them to do your tops next time as well, but let me know when they are coming and i'll nip round and oil your flag stones up!!

[Paul Coleman]

I lost one a few months back to an East European (don't know which country).  He's a young lad who they took on as an au pair.  He also cleaned the conservatory roof of my customer next door (I still have that one).  I wouldn't have done the roof myself anyway as there is no safe way to do it (hard to explain but safe access not possible without cherry picker).
I did warn my customer that there could be problems if he hurt himself on her property - especially with such working practice.
A slightly bigger (though still small as yet) is the knock on effect.  I find that some of my customers who are builders/tradespersons etc are often short of work due to immigrants undercutting them.  It may end up that a few of them end up cancelling their window cleaning.
So far, I rate the knock-on effect as potentially more damaging than the direct effect.

[Mr. S]

Talking to my customers, some who are builders, labourers etc they already fear for their jobs! The poles etc are cheaper but that i think is where the vast majority of my customers will and some have already expressed that fact(the conversation has already arisen with a few), stick with me!!

They see a regular window cleaner who they all know and TRUST on their property! Also if they need extra services they can ask me easily without communication barriers.

Keeping with us, im sure we can all think of other benefits too!

 8)Think im gonna have some sign writing on my van saying Made In Britain or a st georges flag (HOPE NOBODY OFFENDED)

[Paul Coleman]

Talking to my customers, some who are builders, labourers etc they already fear for their jobs! The poles etc are cheaper but that i think is where the vast majority of my customers will and some have already expressed that fact(the conversation has already arisen with a few), stick with me!!

They see a regular window cleaner who they all know and TRUST on their property! Also if they need extra services they can ask me easily without communication barriers.

Keeping with us, im sure we can all think of other benefits too!

 8)Think im gonna have some sign writing on my van saying Made In Britain or a st georges flag (HOPE NOBODY OFFENDED)

As long as you don't have a picture of a pole you should be OK   
As a side issue, I was amused to note that quite a few years ago, the pole vault in the olympics was won by a pole.

[steveaqua]

My Dad owns a recruitment agency and he has thousands of poles come through his doors everyday! When we had a valeting setup i actually got a lot of customers on the basis that

A) We were all English speaking
B) We took time and care which the Poles don't
C) Good Customer Service

I know the poles are quick on the uptake hence why i don't employ them, show em to much and they'll be setup and trying it on my customers in a matter of days.

Feedback from my dad is they are hard working, cheap, ignorrant when they don't get what they want and very very quick on the uptake.

I could have cheap labour every day of the week if i want but there is no way i'm putting my business at risk by these people.

I'm sure you will see more and more of them lets just hope our customers enjoy our services and don't end up going for the cheapest!!

[Londoner]

We have loads of them round here but they haven't really got into window cleaning yet. I'm sure its only a matter of time though. They have knocked the stuffing out of the building trade round these parts.

But I like them ,they are polite and hard working. At least they do work and pay their way unlike a lot of the so called  "Assylum Seekers" who see this country as meal ticket.

In West London there has always been a big Polish community since the last war so we are used to them. Not all Eastern Europeans are as honest as the Poles however and as more different countries join the EU we should be careful not to just lump them all togeather as "Poles" just because to us their accents sound the same.

[KJG]

The only Poles I've seen in Brum are these:
http://www.busty.pl
They look Ok to me

[ewanc0]

I think we need to remember that most of them are here legally. Its the government that has allowed them to come here.
Most of the poles i know work in hotels up here and a weeks minimum wage here is the equivalent to a months wage back in Poland.
Think about it this way - if we were garunteed about £800 a week for unskilled labour in another country we would all be flocking there.

[steveaqua]

Its the government that has allowed them to come here.

Its them T**ts that are screwing up our country!

The more and more cheap Labour comes into our country the less money there is on the table for us to make!!

[LSB]

I have poles and russians and eng now ( and have had them previously inc checz )  i dont pay them any less , they are far better than most of the eng lads ive had or interviewed ! last year after trial and interview i offered an eng 18 yr old a job  who then said i wont be up that early and my mum will have to lend me bus fair. i ended up with a legal lithuanian who was an absolute asset for a whole year before he went home