Fruit picking? Are they f***ing serious?

[emmcan]

So whichever hapless muppet got dragged out today to do the daily lying to the gullible has suggested that furloughed workers could br picking fruit.

Fuck me, how fucking badly run is this shitshow?

The reason that we have had a two decades of migrant workers doing these jobs is because British people are too lazy and incompetent to do them.

And now they expect furloughed workers to head out into the fields and get their hands dirty?

It will happen, in a fashion, as they will just stop paying money to people who refuse to work, but it will be an appalling form of slave labour.

Much as some posters don't want to believe it. Fruit picking was done by teenagers and students not that far back (30 - 40 years maybe) and was seen as a good job for the money.

I used to pick fruit and help harvest potatoes in the late 90s whilst a student. It was physically hard yes but I liked being outside and could think of worst jobs. As far as I could remember the majority of my colleagues were British. Dh for example whilst a student worked as a cleaner in a secure hospital. I'd take picking fruit over that any day.

The pickers would be accommodated in barracks, just like what happens every year

Oh... whoopee! Just what we've always wanted! Glad you've got it all worked out. So I would have to leave my flat that I own and go live with random strangers in a barracks miles away. For how long? And to do work I know nothing about and have absolutely no interest in doing. Just what I studied for my degree for and what I've always dreamed about!

Furlough workers have their own careers, that they worked hard for. I reiterate, it's not our fault this has happened to us. Why should we be made to pick fruit? After all, the unemployed aren't being made to, are they?

Dinosauratemydaffodils

Indeed. It was the same where I lived.

Seems that some people either have very short memories, have less knowledge than they think, or are buying in to some sort of propaganda.

The pickers would be accommodated in barracks, just like what happens every year

Amazing!

So my husband, having already had his place of work closed by the government through no fault of his own, has to leave his comfortable home, and his wife and children, to squat in a shitty caravan with strangers? Sounds brilliant.

Much as some posters don't want to believe it. Fruit picking was done by teenagers and students not that far back (30 - 40 years maybe) and was seen as a good job for the money.

I’m sure it was. So was bar work. And as a student I would have been happy to do either of those jobs for some spending money as I lived in a shared house paid for by my parents.

As a single mother of 3 with a mortgage and a health condition that makes physical work hard for me, I have been working in a capacity that suits me and my circumstances. Living in a cabin shared with several others as lodgings, doing physical work for long shifts and earning minimum wage in order to pay for said lodging, yeah, no.

Most of them are forced to work or misled as to the wages, working and living conditions until it's too late.

Yeah, most likely in a lot of cases. I haveno experience of that area though but do think most are lied to and massively exploited (and yes, people wanting bottom prices for fruit and such contribute to these low wages to start with also..)

Only time I ever saw something like this in action was when I worked in a chip shop..owner wanted a new fry cook and they were doing interviews in the back room so heard a fair bit of some of them. A guy applied who had been doing same job at another chippy for years..I was sure he would get it. Long story short, owner gave it to a Polish guy, and not too long after this this guy let it slip that he was only paid 1.50 per hour, compared to our fiver or so at the time. Felt sorry for him, and also understood why te experienced one did not get the job..was more about getting someone they could rip the piss out of wage wise it seems. On the whole though, even finding out the rest of us got triple his wages, he was not too pissed off as he claimed that the amount he was 'saving' (though how much you could save from that low a wage I dont know..) would seriously help his family and apparently they would be a lot better off than most people where he was from. Very sad situation really..but I guess at least he was happy with it. Wonder what happened with him actually thining about it now, he just randomly disappeared one day and noone seemed to know anything..hopefully he went back to his family and they have a half decent life now, rather than the horror stories he used to tell us :(

@RUSU92

I am not suggesting that anyone that is furloughed does this type of work.

I am addressing the "Brits are lazy" trope that is being dragged out.

If farmers want to employ British people they would have to make the job much more desirable and pay decent wages.

So its slave labour expecting non work British people to pick fruit and veg but it's not slave labour to expect it off immigrants?

It's perfectly reasonable to ask furloughed workers to do some manual labour to top up their pay and contribute to our economy and food supply.

It will be compulsory. No furlough pay if you turn down ''essential work''.

Is there a link to back this up? Or is it just speculation that it will be compulsory?

Nottherealslimshady

Yes, It is slave labour for immigrants to do it.

Arrests are made under slavery in this country.
It doesn't make it in to the news or the papers but it does make it in to the farming papers and magazines.

Normally it is the agencies that get caught as the farmers can claim that they have no idea as they pay for either agency workers/self employed people.

it should also be pointed out that the workers pay the agencies "fees" from their wages as well.

This thread feels like a repeat.

Why can’t furloughed people do the fruit picking? Because it’s not like when you go to a nice farm with a basket to pick raspberries to take home.

I enquired about fruit picking a little while back after seeing so much about it on the news and on SM. First off my nearest farm was in the middle of nowhere 4 miles from my home, so I would have to cycle. Not necessarily an issue. BUT.....I wasn’t suitable for multiple reasons:

1. Like most furloughed people, I don’t know when I’m suddenly going to be called back to work. Once the schools are back, I’m back. They want people until October.
2. The hours will vary by weather and other factors. Therefore I can’t just cycle in, I have to live on sight and be prepared to be woken without warning to start. I would have to live in a caravan with three strangers. And pay for it. I am not paying for a caravan when I am already paying for my home.
3. Living in a caravan with strangers doesn’t exactly help social distancing does it?
4. Essentially staff are locked in for 6 days a week. I’m an adult who wants her freedom, not to have to live on sight as if I’m at boarding school.
5. Take accommodation out of wages and everyone is well below minimum wage. No, I did not vote for Brexit. Yes, I think it’s shocking the conditions that go with the job and wild actually happily pay more for fruit if the people who did it were paid a living wage.

Fruit picking is seasonal, and less than minimum wage. How can the average British person do that job? Only employed for a few months a year on basically a few thousand quid if that? Our welfare system isn’t designed to work with that, UC would be a headache and lead to disaster. Most people who work a shift or a rota of sorts are given their shift pattern in advance for the month ahead for example. How many people can say that they are ready, 6 days a week, to live away from home and be ready at the drop of a hat?

Fruit pickers are vital, but it’s not about British people being lazy. It’s about work conditions being unsustainable for how this country works.

And please stop looking at the furloughed as being lazy. I too have applied like many for other things to do right now and have got nowhere, even volunteering in the community, probably because so many people are.

It's perfectly reasonable to ask furloughed workers to do some manual labour to top up their pay and contribute to our economy and food supply

Nope. So we must sacrifice ourselves for the good of the Fatherland? Listen to yourself.

Farms have to be picky. Too many people just want their "land girl" experience documented on instagram, pick a few dozen punnets like it's a pick your own day and toddle off feeling self satisfied.

It's hard labour with very early starts and targets to meet, and it's not paid at the rate it deserve to be because we all want cheap fruit and veg. Probably 10% of the people applying are qualified to actually do it. And how many of those will they invest time training only for them to quit a fortnight later because they're back in work, leaving fruit rotting in fields because there's no time to bring the European workers in?

Most of them are forced to work or misled as to the wages, working and living conditions until it's too late.

Most of the gangs come back year after year, the same people. Things did change for a while in the '90s with the new accession states (particularly the Baltic states) and there were serious issues with unlicensed gangs, but changes to gang legislation have dramatically improved things.

Remember that SAWS was in-place for Romania and Bulgaria long before they joined the EU.

3. Living in a caravan with strangers doesn’t exactly help social distancing does it?

And it's not safe either.

4. Essentially staff are locked in for 6 days a week. I’m an adult who wants her freedom, not to have to live on sight as if I’m at boarding school

Sounds um, a bit like a "labour camp". Wonder if Dominic Cummings had a hand in this idea?

DogInATent

there are some very good Agencies/gangs out there that invest in the people that they employ, there are some very good farmers out there that look after there workers.

You usually find that the two go together hand in hand.

Is there a link to back this up? Or is it just speculation that it will be compulsory?

The OP is just speculating. The government is talking about this being a possible second job for people who are on furlough, which suggests that they will continue to receive their furlough pay and will also be paid for this work on top.

@Nottherealslimshady you'll find the economy is fucked because a lot of those that usually support it are on furlough. Why is it our duty to continue to carry the burden? Why not those that weren't contributing? And I don't mean those that were actively seeking work or the disabled, carers etc. Why not eg sahps, younger retirees and everyone else that had chosen not to work before this? Not that I'm in favour of forcing anyone to do it, but it makes more sense than assuming the furloughed should be made to feel they owe anything.

I don't see what is difficult to understand tbh.
It is purely a case of different cultures and monetary value of the job.
That's it.
The job is not in keeping with the British way of life, it is suitable for Eastern Europeans.
How you can help is by not being racist, not campaigning for better pay for Eastern European, but accepting them in your village pub. According to some of my many fuckin cousins.
Not complaining that they are able to have the same services as "we" do or our benefit system. The racism they receive when they come here it's amazing they want to come back.
I would love to go back to when my family were fruit pickers, the stories they tell about the wonderful free years. They are old now, but I'd have loved to have been a generation earlier, and experienced it.
The British have themselves to blame for royally shafting their greatest workforce ito farm labour. They even brought their own accomodation.

I never understand the 'reasoning' that Brexit voters should do it. Brexit is about leaving a political union - the country can still choose to allow immigration as it sees fit, so workers who are a benefit to our economy can come here and work if that's mutually agreeable.
But actually no one should be doing those hours/that hard a job for the measly amount of money and being ripped off by farmers to stay on site. It is slave labour and it ought to be stopped, irrespective of the nationality of the workers.

Also any twat who thinks furloughed workers should be compelled to do this, should be the first ones forced to do it!
I'm a sahp and there's no fucking way I'd do it - the Tory party are responsible for ballsing up the economy by not preparing for this situation and by mismanaging it do spectacularly. I'll only be out in the fields after the government has done a few months of it!

Makes complete sense. If the government is paying someones wages then they should be expected to do some work for it.
If the farms can afford to charter aeroplanes to fly people in, then they can afford to bus people in daily from nearby cities.
If British people are somehow less productive than eastern Europeans then we can use twice as many of them.

We need to get used to a new normal, we have left the EU and should be more self sufficient. Might as well start now!

To be honest I think it should apply to everyone who is currently being given money by the tax payer. The last thing this country needs at the moment is our crops failing.

I don't think that Brits ARE to lazy but it is backbreaking work - lots of these Romanian pickers have been raised on farmland doing this since childhood and their bodies are trained to do this work - its not easy.

My family used to do this pick peas in the fields every year the kids would follow along and as they got older they would do it too these days that is not allowed

Now you are expected to

Live on site
except if your renting from the housing association you cant they will evict you because you need to be using the home they provide
You cant take your children well that sucks for them and because I'm a single parent the cats will have to babysit them
Pay for your accommodation
As well as the rent on my house that I'm about to lose?
Pay for your food out of the wages too
So....how AM I supposed to make money picking fruit again?

And that's why British workers often dont do it

Because it makes no financial sense too

HTH