James Oliver Says Brit Workers Are Lazy.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2403575/Jamie-Oliver-Why-I-rely-Brits-staff-restaurants.html

He may be right but that isn't the point, the question one has to ask is whether or not Olivier is being racist in his announcement?

[Octavius]

Not really, Brits are a multiracial nation.

[Mattk]

Surely he needs to interview more effectively then?

He really needs to be quiet and just cook food. He has become quite tiresome and opinionated.

[jno]

he's not just a cook, he's an employer, so I can't see why he shouldn't have an opinion about his staff, most employers seem to.

the question one has to ask is whether or not Olivier is being racist in his announcement

and the answer one has to give is No, British is a nationality, not a race.

[sp1814]

AOG

How can someone be racist when referring to Britons?

I don't get it.

Surely it would be racist if he said that white or black or Asian workers were lazy, but he didn't.

[Orderlimit]

The legislation provides definitions of racial groups and religious groups in the following terms:

"A racial group means a group of persons defined by reference to race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins."

[pixie373]

He's a dick. It may not be racist, but it's certainly a sweeping, inaccurate generalisation. I've never been lazy at work. And in my experience, some immigrants are lazy and some aren't.

[ferlew]

I asked my great nephew to wash my car (paid), what a half hearted job he made of it, dithered about, asked for rubber gloves, I'll never ask again.
Went to a hand car wash run by a group of (I assume) eastern European lads, fantastic job made of it. They work 12 hour days, open 7 days a week, all year round, all weathers.
Doors are all opened and wiped inside, windows done, a fantastic job. ONLY £5. I won't go anywhere else now.
So, on my limited experience, I must agree with Jamie.

[mikey4444]

I can't see what Jamie has said is in any way racist. He isn't the first employer in Britain to say that he finds foreign workers to be better. After all, why are they over here working, when we have so many of our own citizens "on the dole" ? I have asked that question on AB many times before in recent months, but very few people have faced the truth. Our home-grown unemployed get more money on benefits than they would working. In addition few of them have skills that an employer wants or needs.

The sooner we face up to these facts and stop blaming the poor immigrant for everything that is wrong in Britain the better.

[EvianBaby]

I think his comment says more about his business & management skills than anything else.

[sp1814]

Thanks Orderlimit - by definition of the legislation (I assume that you're referring to the Race Relations Act 1965), he was indeed racist to say this.

I always think of racism in narrower terms.

But back to Jamie. He says that working between 80 and 100 hours per week was normal for him in his 20s.

Let's call that 90 hours per week.

That's over 12 hours a day, seven days a week. I simply do not believe that kind of schedule is sustainable. Even the housemaids in Downton Abbey got half a day off a week.

[Orderlimit]

SP, sorry I should have clarified, the definition posted is from The Crime and Disorder Act 1998. But the definition is even more open-ended now where anyone including a third person can perceive anything to be racism, blame MacPherson.

[Old_Geezer]

That's the problem when authorities get to define definitions, they come up with the most amazing garbage. By definition racism has to be to do with race, unless someone without common sense has had a go at it.

Jamie Oliver may have a point in that native citizens of this country are not prepared to be imposed on to the extent some jobs expect, whilst those brought up in more desperate situations are more accepting of poorer working conditions and excessive expectations. I'm not sure that makes those who reject the job requirement lazy. That's setting the bar too much in the favour of the employer. Personally I'd not want to undergo what the starter folk in a busy kitchen have to put up with, and the hours they put in.

Meanwhile the claim that he has to hire immigrants is suspect. He means he has to hire them if he doesn't lower his expectations to that which are seen as reasonable in this country. That does this country no favours at all. And suggests he is part of the problem regarding the excessive number of folk on welfare and a country that is so full we can not find homes for all, or other resources they need come to that.

[doctordb]

Isn't there only one race?

[Octavius]

"I think his comment says more about his business & management skills than anything else."

Yes, such a loser with his mere £150m fortune.

[jno]

depends, sp1814. If you're running (or even worse, trying to start up) your own business, you may have to work long hours. Running a corner shop, for instance. It's easier when you're younger; at my age there's no way I'd work those hours now, but I worked much more than 40 hours in my early 20s.

[Octavius]

jno, successful people generally do - and keep going. I would often do 65-70 hours a week a few years ago (before kids came along) now its jut 50 - 60.

[sp1814]

jno/Octavius

Granted...but I think there's a difference between working long hours because you want to make your business grow, and working long hours for someone else.

That's an indication that the employer is cutting corners in order to minimise a company's largest cost (staff).

[youngmafbog]

He has a very valid point. Many UK workers (of all ethnic backgrounds) do not have the work ethic of foreign workers. And as pointed out by mickey our current benefit system does not help at all in this.

And no, I dont think he is racist, he is simply pointing out fact as an employer; no matter how unpalatable it is to some.

[tonyav]

Wonder if he pay's above national minimum ?.

[youngmafbog]

One of my daughters is a doctor in a hospital. Due to a shortage of doctors (due to management faults not money) the hours and shift lengths she has to do is verging on the ridiculous.