Interesting, if rather alarming, front page story in last week's Packet (Docks takes on Romanians). I say alarming, because I wonder what effect the influx of foreign workers to the dock is really having on the economy, both locally and nationally. All we ever hear is that it is a good thing and that we need them.

My own view is that such a trend will have the opposite effect - it is a bad thing. The reason I say this is because of the vast amounts of money being sent out of the county and country by the Polish, Romanian and other Eastern Block workers.

When local people work at the docks or at Rowe's Bakery, in Penryn and Falmouth, in the bulb fields or elsewhere the wages they earn are almost all spent in Cornwall, probably in and around Falmouth, Penryn or Truro. However, if an immigrant worker is paid, say £1,500 net a month, but sends £250 home, that money is forever lost to the local economy. Ultimately it is lost to the country. It is not spent in local shops, on taxis, on beer in local pubs, on meals out or on clothes in the High Street. Overall the government takes its tax but the £250 is not being recirculated as it would be in the case of local workers.

I know those in favour of the move will say the immigrants are only doing the jobs English people don't want but let's face it, in many cases that is rubbish. We all know docks workers who have been taken off the books because they had to go up country to find work and when they returned were told they were no longer on the casual waiting lists.

The other interesting point to note in your front page story was how "up to speed" Mr Reynolds was about what is going on in the yard. He said he didn't know how many foreign nationals A&P was employing, where they were from, if their employment was jeopardising local men's job prospects or what his company was paying them. But, to give him the benefit of the doubt, I suspect he is not that ill-informed. What he probably meant was he didn't want to say how many were employed or where they were from, whose jobs they had taken and what they were being paid.

Name and address supplied

I FIND myself a little mystified by this week's Packet headline and story, "Docks take on Romanians." I found the article seemed to lack any real news relevance but rather wished to draw attention to the number of foreign nationals working at Falmouth docks.

I feel the way the article was presented had an element of negativity, especially where there was reference to casual workers in the local community possibly losing out on work.

I suggest this headline and article as presented could raise negative feelings toward foreign workers legitimately working here.

J Beesley, Melvill Road, Falmouth

Quoting Mike Reynold's words: "I do not know anything about rates of pay, or whether they are likely to be taking jobs from the casual workers that we use regularly in the docks," I would like to say that I was one of the long serving casuals in the docks that the Polish have replaced. I am now 64 and most of my working life has been at the docks, being a ship's joiner/shipwright, but also had skills in other departments. I was laid off in 2005, so in my opinion, yes these foreign workers are replacing our local men, not necessarily for their skills, but because they are cheaper.

Clive Bray (address supplied)