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.

My DH had to sign an agreement saying he wouldn't work elsewhere while furloughed, even in a voluntary basis. I'd imagine he's not the only one!

So millions of furloughed workers only worked during school hours? I dont think so

Think for a few seconds as to why this is a problem in the current circumstances

"And all shifts have to be 9 hours long?"

Since when does someone get to dictate to the employer how long the shifts are. You do know its the employer that decides that right. Not the employee or some DM reader on here.

My DH had to sign an agreement saying he wouldn't work elsewhere while furloughed, even in a voluntary basis

Absolutely....but some posters are ignoring this

And theyve ignored the posters who have said that they can’t pick fruit til October as their work will require them in when the current lockdown ends

For the thickos on here

Why do you think employers have put caveats in preventing employees from working elsewhere....

Because those same employers dont want to have to wait longer for those employees to start back in the workplace while the employees have to quarantine for two weeks due to having worked or lived in close proximity with others.

Volunteering others for jobs you won't or can't do yourself is a twattish form of virtue signalling and anyone can see right through it.

Yeah, this.

My DH had to sign an agreement saying he wouldn't work elsewhere while furloughed Easily changed by the government.

Since when does someone get to dictate to the employer how long the shifts are The government would be paying the wages so they could easily have a a say in the length of shifts.

And you think farmers will welcome that Where have you been?

Volunteering others for jobs you won't or can't do yourself is a twattish form of virtue signalling and anyone can see right through it

Yup this in spades ^^^^^^

Sometimes needs must.

Volunteering others for jobs you won't or can't do yourself is a twattish form of virtue signalling and anyone can see right through it

To be fair this sounds like my marriage...ive got away with it so far

No one is saying this is an ideal situation.

The government appears to have absolutely no plans to conscript the furloughed to pick fruit.

Where the fuck has this ‘blitz fervour’ come from?

Windowboxgardener
I am a tax payer, and paid tax on my furlough pay, so by your logic, I paid myself. That is a bullshit argument

are you suggesting that people should not pay the proper price for goods to ensure that the people who produced them get a living wage?

‘Blitz fervour’ - from right wing press, right wing ‘patriotic’ bots on FB, Twitter etc. Hence a lot of talk of ‘lazy’ people who are currently furloughed not pulling their weight in this national crisis. It’s all designed as boring click bait. If the government want the fruit picked, they’ll find a way to get it done.

@ZombieFan no millions of furloughed workers didn't just work 9 - 3 but they used family which is no longer allowed. Or used after school and breakfast clubs still none of which are on right now. You said everyone could be bused to these places I was just pointing out that where I stay in a big city that we are 3 hours away from the nearest .

@ZombieFan except needs isn't must, because there have been no proposals from the government to make the furloughed do this.

PMSL at the people who would absolutely, definitely volunteer to pick fruit of only they were furloughed.

Pull the other one.

And young and childless wrong

"absolutely no plans to conscript the furloughed" true, but people are having so much fun fighting against it anyway.

but people are having so much fun fighting against it anyway

To be fair its in response to all the people fighting FOR it

I work in Agri. I’m not a farmer but work closely with them as a go between them and customers including the big supermarkets. The last few weeks a lot of my usual tasks have gone out the window while I deal with CV19 fallout. I’m not getting in to an argument about migrant labour or greedy farmers but just wanted to correct a few incorrect statements made on this thread:

In Scotland we have the agricultural wages order - all farm workers are paid the minimum living wage of £8.72/hr regardless of age, with overtime paid at around £13/hr

If you are furloughed and your employer allows it contractually, you can take a picking job. You will get 80% of your normal wage paid plus the wages you earn at the farm.

To the person who said that their local arable farm didn’t need staff, that’s because these are combinable crops. The crops which are labour intensive in terms of planting, harvesting, quality control and packing are top fruits like apples and cherries, soft fruits like rasps and strawberries and brassicas such as broccoli, cauli, kale, cabbage. Plus asparagus. A lot of these crops are regional. For example the 3 big brassica areas in the UK are Cornwall, Lincs and Scotland. Therefore the need for pickers can be concentrated in quite narrow geographical areas.

Farms which supply direct to supermarkets are very highly regulated. They have to pass various audits on product safety, ethical and welfare issues, environment impacts etc. This includes inspections of accommodation, payroll and timesheets, interviews with staff, reviewing training records to ensure health and safety standards etc.

Mechanisation is happening but it requires time and a lot of money to develop the right machines. Some crops may not be suitable for anything other than hand picking, particularly if supermarkets remain so stringent with their size, weight, shape and defect parameters.

I am not saying that all farms are perfect. There are good and bad as in all industries. I am lucky that the farmers I deal with are some of the good ones - they have to be or they would not have customers. As a whole industry change is needed but that requires the participation of all parties - customers, retailers, farmers, politicians. I think we need to do what is required this year to get through the harvest season and then enter a serious discussion about our food supply chains in this country.

If anyone has any specific questions on picking jobs then please ask and I will do my best to answer. But I won’t engage in mud slinging in any direction (I get muddy enough in real life!)

I'm confused about why people are bemoaning reluctance to volunteer and play a part, when there have been quite a few stories recently about loads of applications for fruit picking jobs.

A farm near Norwich has had to take on someone just to deal with the volume of applications they've received. So I don't think we need to worry about mandatory shaming and conscripting of reluctant furloughed workers just yet...

Actually, I think what people mean when they say the furloughed is the mainly low paid hospitality, none essential retail staff, cleaners etc. And I think some people can't handle the idea that those same workers that normally get the short straw might have a better deal for once.

My industry is still operating on a smaller scale. I'm only furloughed because I can't do it ft from home anyway, and with only a skeleton crew operating I've ran out of anything to do. But unlike pubs etc it's unlikely to last long. At the least the skeleton crew will have created some work in a month. There is no way employers like mine are going to agree to give up skilled staff for fixed periods above the mandatory three weeks, and no farm is going to take someone on knowing they might walk out at any time.