Fruit and veg to run out if farms don't get pickers

[SudokuQueen]

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/28/fruit-and-veg-will-run-out-unless-britain-charters-planes-to-fly-in-farm-workers-from-eastern-europe

Why do we actually need to fly people in from other countries when there are a ton of people not working now due to corona killing off their jobs?

Unemployment has gone up by tens of thousands in a week. Just a week. It will only increase.

Food pickers are keyworkers so can go out to do this. Why can't we just get the new unemployed to do this? Yeah it might not be the amount of money you were getting before, but I bet its better than benefits.

A lot of these jobs are live in.

42 days is the maximum you are allowed to be away from your social housing before you risk losing the tenancy Yep @managedmis its so lazy and entitled for them not to want to be homeless.

And whats the betting some of the people on this thread would be the first to report a HA flat as abandoned if a tenant dared to take one of these live in jobs.

Where am I showing I have a problem with the unemployed? confused I am worried about how they are going to afford food, if they are going to still have jobs after this, if they are going to have homes

Well social housing tenants wouldnt have if they took your advice.

You didnt know about the rules ive already stated did you

@musicposy take a look at G's of Shropshire. Or try the farmer weekly website. Or google agriculture labour providers. There should be some starting points in there.

All agricultural land in the UK needs to be seized by the state and parcelled out to actual farmers so that they no longer need to pay rent to the bloody Normans.

Farmers can then pay a decent wage to workers and provide proper working conditions

Problem solved.

Is this 1953?
Unfortunately you want very cheap food so the decent wage is not going to work!!!

Jobs
www.pickingjobs.com/england/midlands-england/east-midlands-fruit-picking-jobs/
www.sagroup.co.uk/Secondary.aspx?id=8
www.simplyhired.co.uk/search?q=fruit+picking&l=england&job=eAIeU8S1ouSkrG4WkLlDDA5TFVhHdV__mfjld4mFvIcbGclIJDVlSA

Thanks for those links, Henry. Do you live nr Chelmsford? I found some potato sorting jobs about 6 miles away. But they were advertised 2 weeks ago & now isn't potato harvest time, so I am confused about that...

It turns out I've worked almost 2 months without being paid but I have a load of projects I don't want to drop, plus I don't need the money (I do need the activity). So I will look at finding something local I can do day rates or PT. And put my foot down about no new projects starting until I've had all backpay & a proper contract. Which I imagine will be July time if at all.

My local job centre listings, within 10 miles, just 80 jobs:

"support workers"/carers x 35
nurse/lead practitioner x 12
solar energy sales: x 7
cleaners, residential/day care manager x 4
HGV drivers, supermarket shelf stackers, store manager x 2 each
civil engineer, audiologist, telesales, hotel receptionist, pipefitter, for sale board erector, junior admin, warehouse worker, chef, GP, security officer, bank nursery assistant, labourer x 1 each

Almost none are jobs, I realise, you can't WFH !

Few advertised in last week.

I don't want food to be cheap, I want food to reflect the cost of production and I want fair wages so that people can afford to buy it.

Food needs to cost more and housing needs to cost a lot less in my opinion.

I work in agri and one of the things that does my head in is this cheap foreign labour line that's always trotted out. It may well be the case in England but its certainty not up here in Scotland and some of our hard working fruit and veg harvest and processing workers take home better wages than me in a manager's position some weeks. Just to dispel some of the myths:

In Scotland most farmers pay to the scottish governments agriculture wages order. This states that all staff regardless of age are paid a minimum of £8.72 per hour in 2020 regardless of their age.The only exceptions are apprentices. Staff with agri qualifications are entitled to a higher minimum rate. Add in piece rate and overtime and it's a decent wage especially if you are young - compare to NMW for an 18 year old working in retail or hospitality.

The maximum accommodation fee a farmer can charge is £8.72 a day. Yes the accommodation can be basic - caravan, bunkhouse, farm cottage - but farms are inspected by local councils, quality assurance schemes and supermarkets with strict regulations on health and safety and staff welfare. Yes some bad examples probably do slip through the net but on the whole there is none of this 20 people in a house nonsense.

The farmers I work with know that without their seasonal labour they cannot operate and look after them accordingly - the measures we are puting in at the moment to assist social distancing to protect staff whilst still being productive are extensive. It can be a hard manual job but theres a real sense of camaraderie and in normal years a good social life for workers with the chance to see some of the wider country during their months here. Some workers can return to the same farm season after season for a number of years until they graduate from university or start a family in their home country. Most work hard and are here to make money.

So, if you or a young person you know is at a loose end this summer please consider farming. You will make money, get fit, have a laugh and learn to swear in most eastern European languages! Check out the ALP SWAP website or NFUS for vacancies - berries need picking now, veg June onwards.