Minimum Wage - FAIL

I'm sure they count the accomodation which was why I mentioned them having
to sleep out on the side of the piste. Naked.

 

But they are employed by a UK/EU company, yes?

So can we assume the EU has created some sort of exception to low wage
regulations to keep this going? My mate Ooie just wanted to make enough to
keep her very modest apartment in the UK afloat while she was away. At
these rates no rep will have a home to come back to.

I'd happily pay 10-20% more to ensure a living wage.
<looks at Kiran>
after all, raising the cost of sking will help keep the English trailer
trash off the slopes.

 

<g> Actually I was ignoring that typo as your calculation was correct
- and my point still stands.

 

Yep.
If you sub to a Polish/Romanian/etc company they only need to pay Polish
/Romanian/et wages and not the local rate.
Some employers are doing this shit now - recall the fuss about the
imported Polish workers doing maintenance at a fuel depot a year or so
back - subbed out to a Polish crew.

 

LOL.

Missed this on first reading.

 

Sure, it's a UK emplyere. BAIUI UK minimum wage laws (are they
actually laws these days?) don't apply to people working outside the
UK, French ones don't apply to UK emplyees.

Reps aren't supposed to have homes - they're supposed to be doing it
in their ealy 20s just for the laugh of it and migrate between
Magalouf in the Summer and Meribel in the winter. What do they need a
home for anyway?

Indeed. I'd also like to rationalise all the kickbacks that the
punters don't know about. Sometimes we have to become implicated, when
doing stuff with tour reps, and I just don't like the feeling of
dishonesty involved.

 

Really? That's excellent news.

All we have to do now is stop all the 'work experience' and 'volunteer'
work for people aren't training their free labour - like politicians who
break the NMW laws every single day.

--
Veggie Dave
http://www.iq18films.co.uk

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim
that Jesus was not born of a virgin." Cardinal Bellarmine

 

If the situation is anything like it is here then the authorities aren't
interested in taking any action against employers breaking the law
unless the person who was employed makes an official complaint, which
rarely happens as most don't know their rights [1] or don't want to get
a bad name within the industry (particularly prevalent in film and TV).

If you report an illegal employer but aren't the person who was employed
by them then the authorities won't do a single solitary thing about it.
Although that's not surprising when you can find illegal job ads all
over government websites, not to mention on websites of publicly funded
companies and organisations.

[1] Such as being legally entitled to the outstanding wages that you
should have received.

--
Veggie Dave
http://www.iq18films.co.uk

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim
that Jesus was not born of a virgin." Cardinal Bellarmine

 

They value a bunk bed in a garage rather highly don't you think? would you
do it for the money.

 

No-one gets into that kind of thing for the money. They do it to spend a
season on the slopes, getting in as much skiing or boarding as possible.
Free food and a bed to crash is better than some of the ski bums out
there, who spend all season washing in the toilets, or not in some cases.

Only most of them don't realise that they will end up spending more time
at work than on the slopes. No-one I've spoken to has done more than a
couple of seasons, unless they really find a niche.

When you're young, you don't care.

 

While that's true of some tour reps, in recent years at least I've
come across many more who have little or no interest in skiing. And
even those who do generally get much less time on the slopes than
they'd envisaged.

Been a while since I came across this type, but yes, in some of the
French resorts, Val and Cham particularly, this is/was all too common.

Ah yes, as I've just typed a second ago.

I know a few folk that have made lives for themselves in ski resorts
having started this way. They are rare, though, and generally move on
o other things. There's one couple I know of where one half is still
the Erna Low rep, who I believe pay proper-ish rates, and t'other has
moved on through being a ski instructor (and let's face it, there's
**** all money in that unless you can get to the top level and work
for yourself) and now does bitsa this and that, web-site design, all
sorts. But they live in the resort (Flaine) all year round and love
it.

 

Possibly the best concentrations of really serious skiing in the Alps.
Coincidence? I think not...

 

Good grief. Two people live in Flaine?!

 

Well, lots of people seem to think so. I don't agree, but that's
mainly because of all the lots of people that are there spoiling it
all...

Quite.

 

I don't think you could possibly argue about Chamonix. Val (and the
Espace Killy) probably has equals, but I know it particularly well and
I've done nearly everything in the Vamos guide, so I'm rooting for it.

 

You're wrong. Sure, there's some pretty good skiing there, but it's
not half as good as it's made ouot to be.

Hah. I was finding routes that _weren't_ on the guide six or seven
years ago. They've been added since.

But really, Val/Tignes is certainly up there in the motorway run
stakes, but the off-piste is just too popular and well known to be
rated that high.

You should come to Engelberg some time. Smaller, yes, but the
opportunities for making fresh tracks in pretty extreme areas as far
greater than eother of the aforementioned.

 

I mean the French side of the Mt. Blanc range, not just the ski stations.
Things like the Glacier Ronde and the Y couloir on the Argentiere. Same
as for mountaineering, there just isn't anywhere else with the same
concentration of really serious easily accessible stuff.

I wasn't thinking of the motorway run stuff. Even now, not many people do
the Couloir des Pisteurs, the Oreilles de Mickey, the N. face of the
Pramecou.

Yes. I really should.

 

BTW I just want to point out why you were wrong - I _could_ and did
argue about it ;-)

Fairy muff.

I suppose not. But they're none of them that special - tricky and
technical in places, and often not with the best snow cover, but well,
they're a bit samey, yes?

Well consider this an open invite. We've still got another month of
skiing, at least.

The Laub is possibly the best - 1200m of vertical, about 500m wifth to
play in, averaging 35deg with some very steep bits if you want to find
them. Only did it about six or seven times this season, but by 'eck it
were good.

All gone now, of course, although the Klein and Grosse Sultz runs,
which are more accessible and almost as good, are still very much
skiable. I'll be there Saturday.

 

A grand tip for a few days guiding seems quite generous
to me!


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Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, bod43

If you're going to have that abortion of a .sig, a working sigsep would
be a good idea.