' How many times have we heard employers complain that they can't find workers to do the hard jobs like picking fruit, cleaning toilets or working in factories. How many times have we heard employers complain that they can't find workers to do the hard jobs like picking fruit, cleaning toilets or working in factories.'
This is all bullshit. Capitalist propaganda by employers who want a cheap Labour pool.
"Thousands of job-seekers queued for THREE HOURS to land one of just 40 jobs at supermarket giants Aldi"
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2587293/Thousands-job-seekers-queued-THREE-HOURS-land-one-just-40-jobs-supermarket-giants-Aldi.html
People are desperate for work and a future. People apply for jobs as cleaners and in factories, but they are chasing jobs with hundreds applying for the same job.
This is what is really going on as people are exploited by gangmasters for the profit of some businesses. Pay a proper wage, with transport costs etc and tens of thousands of our youngsters willbe queueing up to work.
"Britain's new slaves: To millions of migrants, our streets seem paved with gold. But what awaits many is savage exploitation by gangmasters from their own lands"
An owner often looks like his dog — and Edikas Mankevicius is no exception to that rule.
Anyone who worked for him and did not meet with his approval would risk a home visit from the shaven-headed gangmaster and one of his rottweilers.
His approach was simple and terrifying. The front door of the workers’ overcrowded and flea-infested accommodation would be opened — or, as on one occasion, kicked down — and the dog released with the command in Lithuanian: ‘Attack.’
...
The workers were always Lithuanian because in that way he could control them much better,’ says Danielius.
The initial promises were attractive.
‘Mankevicius said he would get me a well-paid, stable job if I paid him £350 up front. I would then also have to pay £50 per week for my accommodation in Maidstone.’
Danielius says Mankevicius told him he would soon be earning around £500 a week — an enormous amount for a teenager from a country where the average monthly wage is barely more than that. Not surprisingly, he took the job.
Two matters were apparent from the start; the work was dreadful and once a worker had signed up, it was ‘almost impossible to quit’.
Danielius tells me about a typical day: ‘We would have to wake up when it was still night and travel in a van to some distant farm.
‘A team of ten to 11 people would work for two to three hours non-stop catching the chickens running free in a large shed. There could be thousands of them. It’s not that easy catching chickens. In the first months, my hands were scratched to the bones. I still have scars on my arms from chicken claws.
‘The supervisor would be screaming at you all the time and we would be beaten if he thought we worked too slowly or did something wrong.'
‘And all of us had fleas. It was disgusting. While you’re catching the chickens their fleas are jumping in your face and getting on your body. And you would be covered in feathers and s*.
‘But you wouldn’t be allowed to wash. After we would finish at the first farm, we would have to jump in the van and immediately go to another one.
‘We could travel like this for up to two days, across England, Wales and Scotland.’
The journey from one farm to another could take seven hours, says Danielius.
‘No one will pay you for that travelling time, give you food, provide accommodation or even a shower. We didn’t have face masks either.’
His agreed earnings were £3 per 1,000 chickens caught. On one farm, a good team could catch as many as 10,000 to 12,000 chickens, earning £30 to £36 each.
But if their efforts were not deemed sufficiently competent by their Lithuanian supervisors, the consequences were brutal.
‘The supervisor would be screaming at you all the time and we would be beaten if he thought we worked too slowly or did something wrong.
‘Once, one man smashed my face and broke my nose. Often, the guy would shout and assault us simply because he was in a bad mood or had been drinking.’
Danielius adds: ‘At those moments, you are trying to think about all the good things that used to happen to you in life; about home and how you could possibly change your life again.
‘But without knowing the English language, without friends or money — where do you go?
‘None of us was making money there. We were punished for every little thing, for no reason. Many of us even ended up in debt. We had no hope at all.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533576/Britains-new-slaves-To-millions-migrants-streets-paved-gold-But-awaits-savage-exploitation-gangmasters-lands.html