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A thank you to Brexiteers.

bimble said:
Brexit is killing thousands of pumpkins and you lot don't care.
:(
www.bbc.co.uk

Brexit: Vegetable producer says labour shortage means food is being thrown away

Vegetable producer Alfred G Pearce said it was operating at 70% of its labour capacity.
www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...
I think referring to pumpkins as food is stretching it a bit far to be honest as for the farmer complaining of getting labour well sorry pal, offer more money and eventually you will get someone, that's kind of how the free market works.
It's all very well complaining that higher wages are unaffordable but clearly just chucking stuff way isn't cheap either.
 
being serious for a minute though, realistically for the job of weeding pumpkin fields to be worth considering for UK people i wonder how much they'd have to pay.
Because these jobs are obvs in rural areas so you would mostly need people to move away temporarily from home to go and weed the fields for whatever it is limited number of weeks or months per year when the work exists.
Rent is so high here it would need to be enough money for people to keep paying rent at home and go and live on a farm for a season? Instead of getting a different job, near home, that isn't just a few weeks a year.
I don't really see how this whole thing will get resolved tbh, after decades of relying on seasonal workers from abroad, unless some mad government national service pumpkin program for wayward youth or something. Other than that looks likely there'll just be less food production going on in the UK and more stuff being imported.
 
bimble said:
being serious for a minute though, realistically for the job of weeding pumpkin fields to be worth considering for UK people i wonder how much they'd have to pay.
Because these jobs are obvs in rural areas so you would mostly need people to move away temporarily from home to go and weed the fields for whatever it is limited number of weeks or months per year when the work exists.
Rent is so high here it would need to be enough money for people to keep paying rent at home and go and live on a farm for a season? Instead of getting a different job, near home, that isn't just a few weeks a year.
I don't really see how this whole thing will get resolved tbh, after decades of relying on seasonal workers from abroad, unless some mad government national service pumpkin program for wayward youth or something. Other than that looks likely there'll just be less food production going on in the UK and more stuff being imported.
Click to expand...
It's tempting at this stage to suggest that maybe the real problem might be the decades of relying on cheap seasonal workers from abroad and the structural changes in many industries that have resulted, and the combination of Brexit and Covid making that no longer workable might just be the eventual bursting of that bubble.

Probably ridiculous, but I thought I'd just throw it in to give everyone a laugh...
 
Didn’t the dig for Britain campaign attracts about zero applicants last year.

As said, who would move to the country for only a couple of months when they can work full time elsewhere.
 
Supine said:
Didn’t the dig for Britain campaign attracts about zero applicants last year.

As said, who would move to the country for only a couple of months when they can work full time elsewhere.
Click to expand...
It did attract a fair number of people but they only weeded for a week or two, as a kind of novelty experience, then left and went home.

eta yep:
'Of the 450 UK based workers (this includes British and EU workers living in the UK) we placed with our clients less than 4% remained on the assignment at the end of the season. Common feedback from the British nationals placed by Pro-Force was that many of them wanted to “do their bit” at time of national crisis and we do not see this as a long term, viable option to provide the labour the industry needs in 2021 and beyond.'
 
Last edited:
andysays said:
It's tempting at this stage to suggest that maybe the real problem might be the decades of relying on cheap seasonal workers from abroad and the structural changes in many industries that have resulted, and the combination of Brexit and Covid making that no longer workable might just be the eventual bursting of that bubble.

Probably ridiculous, but I thought I'd just throw it in to give everyone a laugh...
Click to expand...
Sure. But you may as well say that the real problem is the last several generations of urbanisation etc. Its not going to be easy to rewind back to a situation where seasonal farm work is a viable option for people living in the UK with its housing situation.
 
bimble said:
being serious for a minute though, realistically for the job of weeding pumpkin fields to be worth considering for UK people i wonder how much they'd have to pay.
Because these jobs are obvs in rural areas so you would mostly need people to move away temporarily from home to go and weed the fields for whatever it is limited number of weeks or months per year when the work exists.
Rent is so high here it would need to be enough money for people to keep paying rent at home and go and live on a farm for a season? Instead of getting a different job, near home, that isn't just a few weeks a year.
I don't really see how this whole thing will get resolved tbh, after decades of relying on seasonal workers from abroad, unless some mad government national service pumpkin program for wayward youth or something. Other than that looks likely there'll just be less food production going on in the UK and more stuff being imported.
Click to expand...

I think you're probably right that certain foods won't be produced in the UK as much any more. If paying your employees a fair wage makes your business unprofitable, you don't have a viable business. Close it and do something else
 
andysays said:
It's tempting at this stage to suggest that maybe the real problem might be the decades of relying on cheap seasonal workers from abroad and the structural changes in many industries that have resulted, and the combination of Brexit and Covid making that no longer workable might just be the eventual bursting of that bubble.

Probably ridiculous, but I thought I'd just throw it in to give everyone a laugh...
Click to expand...

There was an article I read about this very thing. Probably linked to off this thread a week or so ago IIRC. Conclusion, things need to change but how...

Anyway, quite obviously an unemployed person living in a city, for example, who relies on UC to pay their rent / mortgage , isn't going to take up a few weeks work in the middle of no where, if what they earn doesn't cover their rent. Plus running the risk of being without any income, if they have to reapply when the job finishes. Might be More viable for rural unemployed perhaps, assuming their housing costs are less and transport is available.
 
Spymaster said:
I think you're probably right that certain foods won't be produced in the UK as much any more. If paying your employees a fair wage makes your business unprofitable, you don't have a viable business. Close it and do something else
Click to expand...
Is this the kind of thing that they mean when they talk about the opportunities made possible by brexit?
 
ElizabethofYork said:
My husband works in a warehouse, where they've always relied on workers from the EU. Right now they have severe staff shortages and are offering bonuses and bribes to the existing workforce to work extra shifts.
Click to expand...
My nephew works as a maintenance engineer however as part of his job he needs to occasionally drive a very large truck and thus needs an HGV licence to do so, his employer has given him a payrise to discourage him from jacking in the engineering and going off to drive truck for a living.The irony of this is that his girlfriend who used to work in a nursery had a baby earlier this year and this extra money means she can put off returning to work so one employer's attempts to solve his labour shortage is making someone else's worse.
 
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