Thursday 1 November 2012

Wylfa B and the welsh language

Listening to BBC Wales news last night about  the visit by Hitachi to Wylfa, was struck by a closing disclaimer made by hobnobbing politicians and directors from Hitachi...that there was no guarantees that the 'new' jobs would be local.

Which I think most of us knew anyway, especially during the construction phase. Building a nuclear power station requires a skilled workforce and they tend to travel round the world from job to job. And with fewer countries now building new nuclear plants there's not likely to be a shortage.

Of course there will be some jobs for locals, well someone has to make the tea, and clean the construction offices etc..etc..

Then there are the permanent jobs, which somehow will dissuade the youngsters of the island from crossing the bridge in search of further education and a well paid career.

This assuming that they want to work in the nuclear industry in the first place, want to be engineers and technicians....and not forgetting the skilled workforce that already works at Wylfa, and those who worked at Trawsfynydd.

Whilst reading the Daily Post this morning and showing my age I had a 'I can't believe it' moment or as I said it 'what the fuck'.....

Apparently David Jones MP, Welsh Secretary said and I quote "This is also very important for the Welsh Language, I remember the saying "Heb waith dim gwaith" and am delighted that the young people from the island will not have to leave if they want to live here, work here and raise a family"

Which on one level is true, without jobs you won't have a community no matter what the native language is.....but really as we know during the construction phase the majority of the workers will be from elsewhere, some traveling daily, some renting accommodation during the week etc...so not sure how such an influx of migrant workers will help the welsh language.

Especially as rental cost are likely to go up, as to house prices, most probably pricing many young local families out of the market completely, forcing them to move off the island to find a home.

As Tatsuro Issizuka, Vice-president of Hitachi said he expected the majority of the workers to be from the UK.....so no guarantees about local jobs and only an expectation that the majority of the jobs will be from the UK.

To try to link Wylfa B and the welsh language, in some rather pathetic attempt I think to discredit Leanne Wood and Plaid Cymru and their anti nuclear policy is in my opinion rather stupid. Simple message for David Jones MP 'shut the fuck up' and stop treating us like morons.  

7 comments:

An Eye On... said...

The construction force was always going to be largely imported - hence the need for Penrhos Nature Park to be initially developed into cube accommodation for the construction workers before it is then further redeveloped into a gated holiday park.

Obviously not all of the 6000 will be needed for the entire phase - some jobs will just be a mateer of weeks. The council estimates that at it's peak there will be around 1500 working there.

As for 'local' - (for those construction jobs that are given to locals) , again the definition of what is 'local' has already been decided and quopted in council working documents - it's from within 90 minutes commuting time of the site. Therefore Chester, Wirral, Merseyside and Cheshire qualify as 'local'.

Anonymous said...

I'd say that Mr Jones was just stating the simple facts of the matter, though clearly too plainly for your nationalist taste. It's also very unlikely that his comments were a barb aimed at Leanne Wood, who, of course, speaks no Welsh at all.

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing a news article some months back saying that due to a failure at local authority level (that would be the then commissioner run YMCC) that the requisite paperwork for ensuring that 'local' people whould be employed had not been submitted to the relevent authorities (W.G.?)

Anonymous said...

Cardiff must be local too - flight time Cardiff:Valley is 1 hour (add 15 minute taxi/mini bus at each end = 90 minutes ...

Gruntfuttocks said...

It's no secret that every major development on the island over the years has attracted workers from all corners of the UK - and in the case of the doomed Shell development in Amlwch many Dutch workers too. This is the way of the world, many of these workers actually end up staying. A large part of the Amlwch population has workers who came here in the early days of Ethyl/Octel, they married local girls and have themselves become Anglesonians as our resident royals would call them!

Welsh not British said...

The amount of excess energy we generate in Wales is simply staggering. We do not require any more power stations. Let alone a nuclear power station.

England needs more power stations, so the obvious solution would be to build them there. The problem is that people don't want them nearby so the solution is to dump them in the colony next door.

Anonymous said...

I am one of the "imported" workers, having travelled from Lincolnshire with my "specialist skills" to Dinorwig power station during its construction.

I let a local lass, and stayed - learnt welsh, and now have 2 daughters who both are welsh first language. The new construction will bring in outsiders, Johnny English like me - but it will also protect the language one of my welsh first language daughters has now left to return to my home land in order that she gets a job. My second daughter may follow if there is no local prospects, and it is the young people who are leaving.

The exodus is well under way and has been going on for some time, talk to the headmasters of any local school they are all down on numbers as a generation has already left. Any foriegner such as me coming in will have their children taught in welsh as mine were. Angelsey, and gwynedd are already closing schools - the writing is on the wall.