OT: The sooner we're out.....

[whisky-dave]

tep it;s on wiki too.

This regulation requires that bananas of the highest quality classification not have "abnormal curvature",[5] something that led to various stories ab out an EU ban on either curved[6] or excessively curved[7][8] bananas.

For me it seems that the brexiteers are correct but over exagerating the pr oblem which was really aimed at the growers and distributers of green banan as.

if not then explin the following. Provisions

The regulation applies to unripened green bananas, and thus to growers and wholesalers rather than retailers.[3] The main provisions of the regulation were that bananas sold as unripened, green bananas should be green and unr ipened, firm and intact, fit for human consumption, not "affected by rottin g", clean, free of pests and damage from pests, free from deformation or ab normal curvature, free from bruising, free of any foreign smell or taste.[1 ] The minimum size (with tolerances and exceptions) is a length of 14 cm an d a thickness (grade) of 2.7 cm. It specifies minimum standards for specifi c quality classifications of bananas (Extra, Class I, Class II).[1] Only Ex tra class bananas have to comply fully with the shape specifications. Class II bananas, for instance are permitted to have "defects of shape"; Class I bananas are permitted only "slight defects of shape".[1][4] This is not tr ue, however, of the size specifications; sale of bananas below the minimum size is almost always prohibited (with exceptions only for bananas from a f ew regions where bananas are traditionally smaller).[1]

[whisky-dave]

pretty easy to find the basics.

[Martin]

It's part of a set of standards which allow commercial buyers of fruit and vegetables to know what they are going to get when they import from another country.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Surely you have that the wrong way round? Your idol Farage went to public school, but ended up sounding and looking like an East End used car salesman. Only less honest.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That's rich from you harry. You do all you can to subvert the laws of the land in all sorts of ways.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Perhaps the majority of both.

You think they've done that well over the past 8 years or so?

I doubt anyone supports the ideology of any party 100%. Hence for so long most taking the middle ground over many things.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Which is what annoys a Brexiteer. They want to be able to sell any old rubbish. To the gullible. Trade glass beads for diamonds as in the good ol' days.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Unions dont work. They strike mostly

[The Natural Philosopher]

Did we actually pay some fat arsed Brussels bureacrat to write that?

If the banana aint any good, dont buy it... FFS

[whisky-dave]

The above is for growers and retailers only. I thought the whole idea behind the EEC/EU was so that there were standards that need maintaining otherwise why bother uniting any countries for trade ?

[michael adams]

Er no. The message that sends out is that fuckwits are free to do as they please. Safe in the knowledge that as no-one will grass them up, for fear of even greater reprisals and ignominy, they the fuckwits are assured of a lesser penalty, an hours detention rather than the punishment they otherwise would have received. Which merely encourages more fuckwittery.

Complete bullshit.

Young people don't need to be taught that life may be tough at times. They'll learn that for themselves soon enough in the "University of Hard Knocks" as it's termed. In my school as in most others I'd imagine we were taught that if we worked hard, did our homework, and revision, and as a result passed our exams with good grades, then the world was our oyster. Positives all the way. The idea of bribing examiners or copying homework off of the net wasn't an issue in those days at least,

Your exhortation sounds more at home in a US Army Boot Camp documentary to me.

Unless it was strictly personal of course.

Geography teacher:Turnip minor that three times this term your geography homework has been late. So its either 500 lines, you report to the headmaster, or its five minutes in the broom cupboard with me. What's it to be ?

Turnip minor: Oh well it will have to be the broom cupboard again I suppose but its so unfair!

Geography Teacher. "Life is rough, tough, and desperately unjust, so you'd better start getting used to it Turnip Minor. Now drop your trousers and into the cupbpoard with you.

The really unfair bit being nobody else has so far grassed him up; and so there's no real chance of a bit of compo.

Your posts on this group alone are more than enough evidence of the damage he's done.

michael adams

...

[michael adams]

Do you have any knowledge of the real world at all ?

Do you really expect people running fruit and veg stalls to open every box of bananas and inspect every single banana before agreeing to buy the box ?

Similarly Tesco fruit buyers having to inpect the contents of thousands of boxes?

If so, given their time doesn't come free, how much do you think that would add to the price of bananas in the shops ?

Its either that or they end up lumbered with piles of usaleable bananas which will again severely impact on prices they need to charge.

michael adams

...

[bert]

In article , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Obviously they do. It's the lefties who want unfettered immigration who don't care about low wages.

[bert]

In article , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Well yes you laugh because you don't care about low wages. Like the EU commissioners political dogma comes before the well-being of the people you claim to represent.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Which would mean I'd mostly been on strike all my working life, then.

Do you ever think about anything before posting?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Nice to see you making things up again.

You might just look at the referendum results by area. A large percentage of traditional Labour areas voted leave. With immigration being perhaps the major issue for many.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That must be why I was a keen union member all my life. Their job being to keep wages low?

I don't claim to represent or speak for anyone other than myself. If only the likes of you would do similar.

[alan_m]

The leadership of most Unions tend to be more corrupt than politicians and they are only in it for themselves.

[tabbypurr]

I've not heard any brexiteer claim any such thing. Maybe you dreamt it.

And FWIW most of the stuff sold on the high street is already rubbish sold to the gullible.

[Steve Walker]

Unions don't always work. The first place I worked at called a strike over pay (only maintenance workers were affected). They did, after many months, win a pay rise, but they'd lost so much pay in the meantime that it was going to take over 10 years to make it back! They'd also neatly demonstrated that the maintenance could be carried out by far fewer employees.

My more recent dealings with a union were not good either:

First my wife had a pregnancy induced illness, that had not even been diagnosed by the end of 12 months maternity leave. When she eventually could return to work, she could not use up her holidays due to their training requirements on the new computer system before year end and was told that she'd lose all except a week. *I* had to advise the union rep that an ECJ ruling meant that although it had not become part of UK law (and therefore didn't apply to private companies), it did apply apply to government organisations (and therefore the NHS) immediately and she had to be allowed to carry her accrued holidays over.

Second she had a dispute about banding and pay (she had been moved into a different position due to her department being closed down and they'd not changed her banding to match the responsibilities. Three years down the line, they'd still not sorted it and wanted to move her again, but only on the lower banding. The union rep could not drive, so could not come to her place of work or attend meetings with management; was uncontactable by phone (at one point for over 4 months!) and when we asked about chanmging reps, the union advised that we must ask the area secretary - unfortunately her rep WAS the area secretary.

After finally getting another rep (who we thought must terrify management, as she was a) a union rep, b) black and c) lesbian! - and a spitting image for Grace Jones), she advised that my wife had no chance of winning and to accept the lower banding or have no job at all (it turned out later that she was very cosy with management).

Again I looked into it and decided the rep was wrong. We had a free, half-hour session with an employment legal specialist, that confirmed my opinion and as soon as we mentioned that we'd got legal advice, they agreed to correct banding - and back-pay.

SteveW