Wednesday 6 July 2011

1400 BRITISH JOBS GO BECAUSE THEY AWARD A CONTRACT TO SIEMENS IN GERMANY!

This is the Bombardier, Canadian owned, railway carriage building company in Derby.  Bombardier had just axed 1,400 jobs at its Derby plant after failing to win a contract. Not any contract, either, but one awarded by the British Government to build 1,200 train carriages for the Thameslink commuter service into London. Having assessed the bids, ministers awarded the £1.5 billion prize to a consortium led by Germany’s Siemens. 

How the fuck does that make sense?

Now I know that under EU rules they have to go with the most competitive bid, but what does it cost to throw 1400 workers on the scrapheap?  Should that not be added to the price of the contract?  Could you imagine the same thing happening in France?  Or Germany?

No, me either.  The whole thing is a load of shite and the sooner we're out of it the better!

19 comments:

UKIPer said...

It's a pity the SNP are even more pro EU than the other main parties in Scotland. Shows up the SNP Independence in Europe strategy for what it is. Total bollox.

Dark Lochnagar said...

UKIPPER, Fuck you're persistent, I'll give you that! As I've said before there are plenty in the SNP don't want to be in the EU, but independence is the first priority.

banned said...

I have to declare an interest in that I grew up near Derby and always regarded it as a Dark Satanic Mills shithole best avoided. Probably as well to rid it of the last vestiges of its proud railway building past and get them into proper jobs in call centers and regional quangos.

Dark Lochnagar said...

Banned, yes the old 'Hovis' days when you used to peddle that bike up the hill with the loaves in the basket. You were one of the lucky ones that got a job in tescos and McDonalds. I see someone is hoping a call centre somewhere in Yorkshire because it's now cheaper to employ Brits than fucking Indians! That's Britain for you.

Dioclese said...

I heard that 1200 of those jobs in this CANADIAN company were going anyway because of the completion of existing contracts and that the GERMAN owned company were going to re-employ most of them to build the new stuff in the UK?

Puts a somewhat different spin on it doesn't it?

Billy Carlin said...

The German company are building them in their German factory with German workers and these British workers would have built them if the government had given the contract to a British company as this is the ONLY company in the UK that builds them. France and Germany manage to give the contracts to their own companies.

Dark Lochnagar said...

Greekers, true it does, but the system is still wrong whether they're being re-employed or not!

Joe Public said...

I did feel some sympathy for the worker who'd just learnt his job was under severe threat, TV filmed driving out of the Bombardier factory.

Until I saw it was a Korean car he was driving.

Billy Carlin said...

Well he would be hard pushed to find a British car Joe especially one he might be able to afford.

Mind you I know someone who would not buy any foreign crap cars who drives a Vauxhall Corsa - a Spanish built, German designed, American owned company with a badge from an old British mark stuck on it to make people here who buy them think they are driving a "British" car.

Joe Public said...

Billy

They make thousands of British cars a year, just 7 miles up the road from Derby.

Spackers said...

I'll take the quality and reliability of a German manufactured piece of kit any day of the week.

Billy Carlin said...

That's funny Spackers the most unreliable car in Britain is the Audi A5. Last year it was the Ford Galaxy which I believe is made in Germany and for the years before that it was the Audi TT.

All the German manufacturers came out as poor except Mercedes which came out as average which has been the case for years now.

VW does not advertise how reliable they are anymore because that was false as it was based on the original beetle and not any of their modern stuff. Mercedes recently actually advertised that they were now run by engineers instead of accountants by way of an apology. Had to laugh at the rich guy in the US the other day who gave his new Porsche to a gun club who turned it into scrap with automatic weapons because he was sick of its unreliability.

Who does Joe? The Japanese company Honda or Toyota? The Indian companies Land Rover or Jaguar? The French Renault owned Nissan? The German company MINI? The Chinese company MG? Or what is left of the US company Vauxhall?

Dark Lochnagar said...

Billy, I wouldn't have a Vauxhall if you paid me. They have always been shite!

Dark Lochnagar said...

Spackers, the Germans get the name as being great engineers but when cars are made all over the world, can that still be the case. Look for instance at the Trabant!

Dark Lochnagar said...

Billy, I had an X type Jag not so long ago and mechanically it was crap. Would I buy another? Aye, like a shot, they've got a bit of class even if they are Indian.

banned said...

@DL " I wouldn't have a Vauxhall if you paid me. They have always been shite!"
Have they fuck, only since they stopped making the Cavalier which was great.
Joe will be pleased to know that t'Telegraph reported yesterday that 8 out of the 10 top Formula 1 cars are built in Britain, bless.

Dark Lochnagar said...

Banned, I had a Vectra, which had TWO timing belts go before it had even done 30,000 miles, once when I was 300 miles from home and once when I was in the back of beyond without a signal on my phone. My father told me 40 years ago never to buy one and he was right. They're shite!!!

banned said...

DL "only since they stopped making the Cavalier " which is when they turned out the spunk bubble Vectra which only a cunt woukld have bought.

Dark Lochnagar said...

Banned, fortunately I didn't buy it as previously stated, a wee bit of a white lie. I actually leased it over a 3 year period and only made 4 payments, due to the company's accounting being lax, (now gone bust, surprisingly)! It was still shite.