Re: Why can't we pick our own veggies ?
Hi
We have had seasonal workers for years.
An extract from a Govt Report.
A Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) has
been in place for over sixty years. Since 2008 the SAWS
has only been open to workers from Bulgaria and Romania (A2 countries). The
present quota is 21,250 who mostly work in horticulture. The Department for
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs states that the total number of seasonal and
casual workers in agriculture is some 67,000.
The SAWS is extremely well managed by the UK Border Agency. There are nine
operators. Five are sole operators who supply labour only to their own farms. The
remaining four are multiple operators supplying labour to many different growers.
Over 500 growers use the SAWS, with a concentration in Herefordshire, East
Anglia, Kent and the east coast of Scotland. The operators monitor the growers
and the UK Border Agency monitors both the operators and growers. Thus, the
SAWS workforce is properly regulated which may not always be the case with
labour supplied by gangmasters from A8 countries (Poland, Lithuania, etc).
Most parties gain from the SAWS. Growers get a supply of efficient labour tied to
(living on) the farm and who cannot work in other sectors. Supermarkets receive
a reliable supply of British produce – one major supermarket described the
SAWS as “incredibly important”. Consumers gain via prices for British goods
which are lower than they otherwise would be. Migrants realize a good wage –
normally over £300 per week and have low living costs. British workers are not
displaced by SAWS workers (see below) and there are no real integration issues
So we have had seasonal workers long before we went into the EU.
We also have other seasonal agricultural workers, such as Sheep Shearers.
Even with Unemployment in the UK we simply cannot get enough people to work in agriculture or food processing factories.
Many want 9 to 5 jobs, weekends off and prefer to live in towns with all the facilities.