I've heard the same Mal,
I can only speak as I find, the lads I worked alongside in Bracknell 3 or 4 years back worked their bollocks off, I wouldn't say they were skilled as such but for the job they had to do they worked hard all day every day, they were employed by a big cold store company and put the composite panels on infront of us, we were putting the single ply on a big waitrose roof,
Another was a ground worker for a local company, he told me he'd worked every day for 8 months solid, all the money was going to go back to Poland so he could buy a house mortgage free.... is that rig