JimW
支那暗杀团
Mate of mine ended up on the dole and back at his parents in the Vale of Evesham so did some picking. Think he said parsley on piece rates was the worst.
Pick For Britain: UK workers needed as foreign workers flown into UK amid crisis in farming sector
- Thread starter ska invita
- Start date
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
I actually sort of suggested this to my daughter. She's autistic, yeah, and she'd be slower than some workers, but it's not like she can't do anything, and she's volunteered at the city farm and helped me in the garden - she's not scared of dirt. This would be a job she could do. She doesn't pay me rent and uni is on hold. I'm high risk but she's low risk. It would be nice for one of us to be useful and possibly a really good experience for her.
Then I thought hang on, send my 21-year-old daughter, alone, to live with a load of strangers in a remote location that she can't leave (no driving licence, likely no pavements, in an area she doesn't know), supervised by people that I have no way of checking out and are used to treating workers like shit so probably wouldn't be the most vigilant when it comes to the risks young girls face.
No.
Then I thought hang on, send my 21-year-old daughter, alone, to live with a load of strangers in a remote location that she can't leave (no driving licence, likely no pavements, in an area she doesn't know), supervised by people that I have no way of checking out and are used to treating workers like shit so probably wouldn't be the most vigilant when it comes to the risks young girls face.
No.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
I am one such person. They don't want people who can just give up and fuck off home when treated like shit, is the crux of it.
ska invita
back on the other side
you never know, maybe theyve been overwhelmed and will still get back to you
ska invita
back on the other side
wherever it is that you applied SpookyFrank frank, did it have any actual details of the job? hours conditions pay etc
Doodler
You're quite nice when you smile
No one seems to hear back from the Land Army website once they've registered. It could be that (a) its founder put it together in a surge of enthusiasm without thinking it through (b) it's s PR stunt (c) it's to harvest email addresses (rather than farm produce) and other info.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
It was a specific place, but details were vague.
[
Think your initial post was on point. This is a world I know very well indeed.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Being (even!
) older than you, I remember when supermarket fresh produce aisles were pretty skimpy, and most people got their fruit & veg from the market or a greengrocer. I'd love to see the power of the supermarkets broken, and a resurgence of seasonal produce, and the virus may just be the medium that makes that a reality. No more planing in runner beans from Kenya, courgettes from Egypt, or cherries from Uzbekistan.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Good for him.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Back in the day you would get local farmers selling their produce on stalls in York market. Believe me, this market was very far removed from the 'farmers' markets' of today.
Just wondering where traditional street markets get their fruit and veg from - is it direct from the farmers? There are certainly traditional street markets here in Lewisham and Catford which do a good trade.
If they're in London, then from New Covent Garden market, at Nine Elms, or from farms in the Garden of England, a little bit to the south-east of London.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
The shrinkage of street markets, and the change of use of areas of covered markets has been a regular lament of mine on Urban. The shrinkage isn't helped by local authorities constantly reducing pitch numbers, while increasing rent. Just off the top of my head, Balham market is now half a dozen stalls, used to be 20+; Northcote Rd market in Clapham Junction used to be 60+ stalls, now it's 20-odd; East Street market in Walworth was 90+ stalls, now it's less than half that. Tooting Bec covered market, like the markets in Brixton, has seen the produce stalls shrink, and the bars and yuppy-burger outlets grow.
oryx
Sitting on the bok of the day
This, and I also miss the traditional high street greengrocers' which have practically died out.
There was a great one just off Queenstown Road in Battersea which was still going when I left the area in 2007, and which I always used for fruit and veg, but it's now an architect's office or similar.
I used to like Northcote Road & East Street when I lived/socialised there, but haven't been for years.I don't like buying fruit and veg at the supermarket, but alternative options are not great. We tried a veg box scheme but it wasn't good value for money and they gave us too much beetroot.
ska invita
back on the other side
When i worked on Rye Lane id buy fruit and veg from a stall regularly - but it had to be regularly because after more than a day it would often go off! I guess cheap stock for traders to buy near end of life food. Not saying its all like that, but...
oryx
Sitting on the bok of the day
Yes, I've had a few experiences like that - I miss the high street greengrocers more than traditional markets TBH.
Some fuckers in a rush for them courgettes. Only about 1% of food we import comes by plane though that accounts for around 11% of food transport ghg emissions.Being (even!
It would be a better way of doing things.
wayward bob
i ate all your bees
i was thinking the same tbh, not much different from an archaeology or litter-picking gig, and as an excellent walker i could reach civilisation in an hour in the (middle) south-west, i reckon.
ska invita
back on the other side
new article
www.theguardian.com
Thousands of British workers who responded to a nationwide appeal to help pick fruit and vegetables on farms have rejected job offers, it has emerged.
As hundreds of workers are being flown in from Romania to pick lettuce and asparagus, specialist recruitment firms revealed that fewer than 20% of the applicants were either willing or able to take up roles on the farms.
The Alliance of Ethical Labour Providers said it had received 36,000 applications of interest but only 6,000 had opted for an interview for a role.
Concordia, one of the three recruitment companies in the alliance, said: “To date 900 people have explicitly rejected the roles we have offered and 112 have taken up our offer of a role on a UK farm.”
It said the main barriers were the length of the contract, location of the farm, and inability to work full-time because of care responsibilities.
Another recruitment firm in the alliance, Hops, said only 9% of those who had completed the recruitment process were eligible for the job.
“Some are saying they cannot commit to 40 hours a week, some can only commit for a few weeks whereas some roles can be full time for eight weeks and some can be up to six months,” said Sarah Boparan, the operations director at Hops.
She said that even though they were not able to hire all who applied, she felt there was an education process under way about farm work that could have a lasting impact after Brexit, when Conservative party plans will put a block on low-paid and low-skilled workers coming to the UK from abroad.
“We are so pleased to see so many people apply and so thankful they have responded to the call to support agriculture in this country and we appreciate their patience as some of the crops are not yet ready and new offers will be going out,” she said, adding that peak recruitment would not really start till the end of May for most farms.
Several people who said they had responded to the government-backed appeal complained about the barriers to taking up the posts, particularly the on-site accommodation.
One man who contacted the Guardian, who lives in Norfolk and wanted to commute to a job locally, where there are many farms, said: “Some of the jobs require you to live on-site. It doesn’t make it easy at all. If we really need to be picking all these vegetables, they don’t make it very easy. I can’t move; I have a family.”
Gary Leshone, 35, who used to work in fishing in Grimsby, launched his own personal recruitment drive when the national Feed the Nation appeal, backed by the environment secretary, George Eustice, was launched three weeks ago.
He managed to get 150 volunteers who were willing to cross the country to Herefordshire and to live on-site for six months.
“I contacted farmers individually and initially I was told by one farmer he’d take as many workers as he could get, so I went on radio and social media and got 150 people. I know I could probably find 1,000 to 2,000 here because people are out of work.”
He was then told by the farmer that he needed a gangmaster’s licence if he was going to place that many workers on the market, which he was told would take 10 weeks to obtain.
“By that time the fruit and veg will have rotted and the borders will probably be reopened,” he said.
Underlining the confused messaging surrounding the sudden recruitment drive, Hops pointed out that the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority was doing checks and handing out gangmaster licences within five days because of the crisis.
“The Romanians coming in are just like us, looking for work to feed their families themselves, but if they need 90,000 people and you have all these British people unemployed and the government has to pay out universal credit, it’s just ridiculous. The government should do more to sort this out,” said Leshone.
Recruiters appealed for patience among British hopefuls, pointing out that the peak season started from May and there would be “thousands of roles available for people who are in need of a job”.
There was controversy in Romania after photographs emerged of crowds gathering in regional airports for flights to Germany, which, like the UK, is also suffering a labour deficit. Questions are being asked in Romania as to how workers could leave to help ease other countries’ demand for fresh food when much of Romania is in strict lockdown.
G’s Fresh, one of the UK’s biggest salad growers, which has chartered two of the six planes from Bucharest, said it had recruited 500 British workers so far.
“We’re really pleased with how the recruitment campaign is going, but it is important that we have got these people from Romania. These are key skilled workers who were with us last year. We need experienced people who can make sure everyone is safe and knows what to do,” Beverley Dixon, the company’s HR director, told Eastern Daily Press.
Romanian workers travelling to the UK were given masks and sanitiser before boarding and would be be quarantined in small teams before full deployment, G’s Fresh said.
British workers reject fruit-picking jobs as Romanians flown in
Contract length, farm location and caring duties cited as reasons for turning down work
Thousands of British workers who responded to a nationwide appeal to help pick fruit and vegetables on farms have rejected job offers, it has emerged.
As hundreds of workers are being flown in from Romania to pick lettuce and asparagus, specialist recruitment firms revealed that fewer than 20% of the applicants were either willing or able to take up roles on the farms.
The Alliance of Ethical Labour Providers said it had received 36,000 applications of interest but only 6,000 had opted for an interview for a role.
Concordia, one of the three recruitment companies in the alliance, said: “To date 900 people have explicitly rejected the roles we have offered and 112 have taken up our offer of a role on a UK farm.”
It said the main barriers were the length of the contract, location of the farm, and inability to work full-time because of care responsibilities.
Another recruitment firm in the alliance, Hops, said only 9% of those who had completed the recruitment process were eligible for the job.
“Some are saying they cannot commit to 40 hours a week, some can only commit for a few weeks whereas some roles can be full time for eight weeks and some can be up to six months,” said Sarah Boparan, the operations director at Hops.
She said that even though they were not able to hire all who applied, she felt there was an education process under way about farm work that could have a lasting impact after Brexit, when Conservative party plans will put a block on low-paid and low-skilled workers coming to the UK from abroad.
“We are so pleased to see so many people apply and so thankful they have responded to the call to support agriculture in this country and we appreciate their patience as some of the crops are not yet ready and new offers will be going out,” she said, adding that peak recruitment would not really start till the end of May for most farms.
Several people who said they had responded to the government-backed appeal complained about the barriers to taking up the posts, particularly the on-site accommodation.
One man who contacted the Guardian, who lives in Norfolk and wanted to commute to a job locally, where there are many farms, said: “Some of the jobs require you to live on-site. It doesn’t make it easy at all. If we really need to be picking all these vegetables, they don’t make it very easy. I can’t move; I have a family.”
Gary Leshone, 35, who used to work in fishing in Grimsby, launched his own personal recruitment drive when the national Feed the Nation appeal, backed by the environment secretary, George Eustice, was launched three weeks ago.
He managed to get 150 volunteers who were willing to cross the country to Herefordshire and to live on-site for six months.
“I contacted farmers individually and initially I was told by one farmer he’d take as many workers as he could get, so I went on radio and social media and got 150 people. I know I could probably find 1,000 to 2,000 here because people are out of work.”
He was then told by the farmer that he needed a gangmaster’s licence if he was going to place that many workers on the market, which he was told would take 10 weeks to obtain.
“By that time the fruit and veg will have rotted and the borders will probably be reopened,” he said.
Underlining the confused messaging surrounding the sudden recruitment drive, Hops pointed out that the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority was doing checks and handing out gangmaster licences within five days because of the crisis.
“The Romanians coming in are just like us, looking for work to feed their families themselves, but if they need 90,000 people and you have all these British people unemployed and the government has to pay out universal credit, it’s just ridiculous. The government should do more to sort this out,” said Leshone.
Recruiters appealed for patience among British hopefuls, pointing out that the peak season started from May and there would be “thousands of roles available for people who are in need of a job”.
There was controversy in Romania after photographs emerged of crowds gathering in regional airports for flights to Germany, which, like the UK, is also suffering a labour deficit. Questions are being asked in Romania as to how workers could leave to help ease other countries’ demand for fresh food when much of Romania is in strict lockdown.
G’s Fresh, one of the UK’s biggest salad growers, which has chartered two of the six planes from Bucharest, said it had recruited 500 British workers so far.
“We’re really pleased with how the recruitment campaign is going, but it is important that we have got these people from Romania. These are key skilled workers who were with us last year. We need experienced people who can make sure everyone is safe and knows what to do,” Beverley Dixon, the company’s HR director, told Eastern Daily Press.
Romanian workers travelling to the UK were given masks and sanitiser before boarding and would be be quarantined in small teams before full deployment, G’s Fresh said.
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
The sheer scale of this recruitment across Western Europe suggests that it was planned some time ago and not as a quick response.
'
balkaninsight.com
'
Western Demand Wins Romanian Workers Coronavirus Travel Waiver
COVID-19 has brought much of Europe to a standstill. But someone has to pick Germany’s strawberries.
balkaninsight.com
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Good piece with some detail on the nature of the work and the practical realities of surrounding it: Anyone who's been laid off can pick fruit, right? It's not that simple | Steve Jones
Chilli.s
mingling jets and statuettes
40 h per week on a farm is a fair chunk of work. Unsurprising that it's having trouble finding takers.
What kind of fee are the agencies taking for this? anyone know?
I thought that uncontrolled border crossing before the lockdown compounded the problems we have now.
What kind of fee are the agencies taking for this? anyone know?
I thought that uncontrolled border crossing before the lockdown compounded the problems we have now.
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
I’ve done fruit picking in Perthshire as a youth. Absolutely no way I’m getting in a humid poly tunnel with dozens of others during a pandemic. And driving hours to get there (there’s no viable daily public transport links from Glasgow to the soft fruit fields of East Perthshire).
So, nope.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
That Guardian thing is pure horseshit. British people have not rejected the work, the work has rejected them.
Chilli.s
mingling jets and statuettes
I think you could be right.
ska invita
back on the other side
you havent been contacted back, but that doesnt mean no one else has got further down the process
it seems very plausible people are thinking Yeah Maybe Tell Me More - getting to the point of being shown the details and deciding No Thanks
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
The headline on this one varies wildly from the content.
British workers reject fruit-picking jobs as Romanians flown in
Contract length, farm location and caring duties cited as reasons for turning down work
It's clear that our seasonal flexible work isn't erm, flexible. Not to mention the unwillingness to adapt quickly.
Chilli.s
mingling jets and statuettes
Nearest thing to slave labour that this country has.
Treacle Toes
Time
The real reasons why British workers won't pick fruit
It’s about housing, transport, benefits, pay, and the culture of work.
theconversation.com
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
I mean if the conditions mean they can't do it, and farmers are unwilling or unable to make allowances, that's a long way from people 'rejecting' farm work. So I'm sticking with my original verdict of 'horseshit'.
And it's far from being just me that hasn't heard back from anyone.
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