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.

*posted too soon.

Meaning I'd have to drive there and back, or pay to stay on site. If I drove it would hardly be worth my while doing so and if i stayed I'd be away from my family for 6 days a week.

The final nail for me was this phrase, or similar, on multiple websites "we are a multi lingual operation, it will help if you can understand basic English, but it’s certainly not essential".

While I've no issue with non-english speakers the idea of potential being on a farm 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and unable to have conversations with my coworkers all for NWW just isn't appealing.

Presumably they cant drop below NMW though? not for British people but if they use an eastern European company to hire workers for them they can pay that company less for the same amount of workers as they would pay British people working at nmw.

Too many people in Britain prefer a lie-in to hard work," they argue
They can get in the fields and show us how it's done then:)

@Mlou32 I live in the country side. They asked the brutish people to do the picking, they applied. It would mean food prices would go up - therefore the government shipped in slaves.

not "all"

but in 2016, in my area, the posters on farmland bordering main roads all were.

Some people say the BBC let this man speak, by mistake.

Doubt if much will come of it, sounds like just another Tory scheme which gets a few headlines then just quietly gets forgotten, bit like the NHS volunteers which seems to have just turned into a damp squib.

Dont think you know what en masse means, do you jasjas?

Someone our local FB page was asking about fruit and veg picking jobs about a week ago, they were looking for work. We are in a village in a fairly rural agricultural area, and there are a lot of farms growing veg and salad crops round and about. There are also some commercial greenhouses growing cucumbers, peppers, strawberries, cut flowers and the like.

Several people responded and the answer was no, there aren't any jobs available at the moment.

So where are all these places that are desperate for fruit pickers, because there's none round here.

Far as I know no one has been forced to do this nor will they lose money for not doing it. What's your problem? Do you just want the fruit to rot?

Bloody nora some peoples heads really are in the 50s. Get your kiddies down with lashings of ginger beer, just watch out for those dastardly gang masters!

*You really think farmers want Eastern Europeans because the British are lazy?

Yep.
A Farmer in Cornwall tried it in an experiment with a local Uni, few lasted the day and no one came back the next day, supposed to be for 5 days.*

Well, I live in Cornwall, am British, and did daffodil picking for the whole season one year. Nearly everybody working on that farm was local, and worked like a bastard.

If I didn't have a job and I was out of work I would be happy to give it a try but I wouldn't be anywhere near as fast as someone who has been doing it for years plus I am not uses to working outdoors.

I lost my job due to Covid, and I applied for fruit picking straight away. I’m relatively young, and have agricultural experience.

I have not heard back from one single farm / company. I know the season is still a few weeks away really, but you’d think the recruitment would be underway.

I’ve tried following up, nothing. No phone calls back or anything.

It's not such a bad idea, though obviously not suitable for everyone (as a student I worked for a few weeks picking asparagus, and it is hard work!).

Once furlough ends, some people may, unfortunately, find themselves made redundant, as businesses contract or fail. For someone young and fit, a few months picking fruit and veg may be a useful stopgap.

There are plenty of holiday cottages on farms lying vacant at the moment, maybe workers could be accommodated in them?

So nowhere near "all farmers" then...

Still a substantial majority, indeed overwhelming, if a 4% margin in favour of leaving is the "Will of the People" :)

Its a little bit like fishermen voting to leave... robbing themselves of the Eu markets they rely on and in some cases the fishing grounds they use too.

I don't think British workers are lazy, it's just that they want a fair days pay for a fair days work.

No-one is going to do back breaking work for a minimum wage zero hour contract.

Pay a decent wage and you'll get people.

If I didn't have a job and I was out of work I would be happy to give it a try but I wouldn't be anywhere near as fast as someone who has been doing it for years plus I am not uses to working outdoors

You sumerised very well why farmers don't want UK workers.

A Farmer in Cornwall tried it in an experiment with a local Uni, few lasted the day and no one came back the next day, supposed to be for 5 days.

Wasn't this experiment for one week only? Those people had no experience in working in that job and we have no idea how much training they had on the day and how they were treated. He should have done it over a month at least. Imagine if a farmer who has worked in that job their whole life suddenly tried accountancy for a day for example?

False, the reason why you buy cheap food is because neoliberalism means that it is cheaper and more cost effective to have eastern europeans fruit picking and living on site (that they have to pay for).

False. It's not because it's cheaper to have Eastern Europeans fruit picking, but because the British pay them slave wages, abuse them and break the law. It's the British being greedy that is at the core of the problem. And yes, there are many, many lazy British workers - a lot more than in EE.

You sumerised very well why farmers don't want UK workers.

Exactly Jas but I am not lazy.

No-one is going to do back breaking work for a minimum wage zero hour contract.

But you'll conveniently let the Eastern Europeans do it for you. It makes it OK then.

Read a good article on this the other day, will link below. I particularly liked the writer picking up on the kind of sneering attitude of it being unskilled work so anyone can do it.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/17/laid-off-pick-fruit-seasonal-workers-special-skills

My DH isn't allowed to work anywhere else, his contract states that. In addition we live nowhere near farms and he couldn't stay away as when my chronic condition is bad, he becomes my carer. Part of the problem is people don't live in the right places, they may have other commitments e.g. children, disabled partners or parents etc.

I also know of people who have applied and been turned down because they don't want to live on site and pay out for their rent or mortgage. In addition, having seen some of the accommodation provided by farmers, I don't think anyone should be living in it.

@MrsMGE Are you being willfully obtuse? Six months of fruit picking in the UK for a Romanian gives an amount of money that goes much, much further than the UK due to vastly different costs of living and costs of buying a place to live.

Pay a decent wage and you'll get people

I agree wholeheartedly. But supermarkets want lowest prices and imports are often cheaper then paying for home.

supermarkets are the kingmakers, they can make or break businesses.