Problems in Poland
In Poland you can’t get hold of a Polish plumber
Where have all the plumbers gone?
In any case there is a far more profound, longer-term problem with imported Ukrainians, namely the fact that the Ukrainian GDP is expected to grow by more than 7 per cent this year. Thus Ukrainian wages are rapidly pushing past developing-world levels, thus Ukraine also needs new roads, new buildings, new nannies. If the Ukrainians move to Poland to replace the Poles who’ve moved to Britain, who will do the work in Ukraine? Presumably the Kazakhs — which means that the Kazakhs will have to import Kirghiz, and the Kirghiz will eventually have to import Chinese, and the Chinese, finally, will recruit Californians. According to one recent press report, some Poles are already shortcutting this process and hiring directly from China right now. Once they finish building their Olympic stadiums, there will apparently be a lot of unemployed construction workers in Beijing — or so the Warsaw rumour mill has it.
Still, recognising that this vast global movement of labour will take some time to get underway, the Poles are now looking for political alternatives too. I’m sure no one in London noticed, but one of the high points of the recent Polish election campaign was the visit of the subsequent victor, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, to a Tesco in Hammersmith. Surrounded by paparazzi, he stood beside the ‘Polish specialities’ section and chatted with the Polish shoppers who have made kielbasa a fast-growing bestseller in supermarkets all over Britain. He then flew to Dublin, where he met more of his compatriots, and came home promising to ‘build a Second Ireland’ in Poland — a line which sounds incredible to those whose knowledge of Ireland still comes from Edna O’Brien, but makes sense to everyone in Poznan whose cousin works in a chic Dublin pub.
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Lucan C. Heraclitus
December 14th, 2007 8:27pmEeeoooummaarugheroaoghsnoart!
Or
December 18th, 2007 1:14pmIn fact, there are lots of readers of the Spectator in Poland. Hundreds of students of 5 year MA English Studies are forced to read the Spectator in every Polish major city, some of them even like it.
Euripides S Trades
January 4th, 2008 7:53pmAs an English gentleman self educated by necessity in multi-trade DIY skills through many years of capitalism I will be happy to provide my advice and services in this area to my fraternal comrades in Poland and elsewhere.
Henry Barth
January 5th, 2008 5:35amGiven the way building in Ireland has stopped and is disappearing as Ireland enters its economic recession, you'll soon have your plumbers back, along with the plasterers and carpenters. Good luck!
Luc Jones, Moscow
January 8th, 2008 2:09pmGood article, but a few inaccuracies - it's rare to find Kazakhs working as gasterbeiters in other parts of the CIS - they don't need to; they're all in Almaty or Astana, milking the boom, thanks to the high oil price. More likely in Kiev you'll find Ukrainians from poorer parts of the country, as well as Moldovans and Azeris. From Central Asia you'll get Uzbeks and Tajiks moving to Russia & Ukraine, but not Kazakhs. Oh, and Kirghiz is spelt Kyrgyz (which means 40 women, in the Kyrgyz language)
Steven Woodruff
August 11th, 2008 12:06pmI am an American carpenter living with my Polish wife in Poland. I am having a very hard time finding work in Poland. Pass the word and contact me if you see any reasonable work for me. The Poles left for England and will not be back until they are paid well enough to come back. If one more person offers me 15 złoty an hour to bust my butt, I think I'll go to the UK to work also.