8th Sept 2024: The Guardian Number of seasonal workers seeking help after being sacked by UK farms doubles in the past year
The number of farm seasonal workers seeking help with dismissal after travelling to work in British fields and orchards has soared over the past year, according to research.
Government warned ‘unobtainable targets’ Being Used to dismiss migrant fruit pickers at short notice.
Original Source: The Guardian by Emily Digan- 8th September 2024
The trend is thought to be in part because of pressure to meet picking targets, the challenges faced by farmers trying to stay profitable and an unintended consequence of new laws guaranteeing minimum hours.
The Worker Support Centre (WSC), which is based in Scotland but supports seasonal workers across the UK, said the number of people coming to them in June and July this year for help with dismissal issues was more than double that of the same period last year.
The problem may be the tip of the iceberg as workers who have just arrived in the country are very likely to be unsure how to seek help.
The WSC said it had been approached by 47 people for advice about dismissal between June and July, compared with 22 last year – and that 60 workers had raised concerns about high productivity targets with the organisation so far this year.
Caroline Robinson, the director of the organisation, said: “At the Worker Support Centre we regularly hear about workers being given very high picking targets and threatened with dismissal for not reaching them, as early as their second week into the job.
“Most workers incur debts to travel to the UK on the seasonal worker visa, a visa on which it is not possible to just leave the farm and find alternative work. The risks when workers lose their job are often so high that some will endure extremely difficult working conditions.”
In July the Guardian revealed that Indonesian fruit pickers who had paid thousands of pounds to come to work in Britain were sacked within weeks for not working fast enough. For those who spend large sums coming to the UK, dismissals before the end of a six-month visa raise the risk of returning in debt.
Many of those supporting workers believe a rise in dismissals is an unintended consequence of rules introduced this year requiring farms to guarantee at least 32 hours of work to those on seasonal visas. They say the change has made it less attractive for farms to keep workers who are slower, because they no longer have the option of using them for fewer hours.
Robinson said the government needed to act to make sure the visa did more to protect workers. “The practice of using dismissal threats and picking rates as a means of getting workers to compete with each other to reach what some say are unobtainable targets, within a visa system where people have very few choices but to submit, comes dangerously close to the definition of forced labour and is something to which this new government should rapidly turns its attention.”
In its mid-year report, the WSC said it was experiencing its hardest season of work yet, “with more daily contacts for assistance than at any other point in the history of our service”. The organisation also recorded that 12 workers described being sacked after raising complaints.
Adis Sehic, of the Work Rights Centre, a charity supporting migrants in precarious employment, said he believed a rise in dismissals was linked to the introduction of minimum hours. “There’s an incentive for [farmers] to make sure that everyone that is working on their farm is actually working and is also as productive as they can be. Unfortunately, there’s no regulation, at least in England, on productivity rates for seasonal workers. That’s set by farms and clearly changes daily, depending on what the weather’s like and conditions at the farm.
“So what we think is happening is that seasonal workers are arriving, they’re getting the training, they’re getting these targets, but after a couple of weeks, they’re getting dismissed because there’s no regulation on productivity.”
Alison Capper, the chair of British Apples and Pears, which represents UK growers of the fruit, pointed out the sample size of the research was relatively small and that there would always be some dismissals on farms.
Capper, who also runs an apple and hops farm and relies on seasonal workers using the visa, said: “I’m not surprised that there will be a small number of dismissals and issues around pay going on in the peak [of the soft fruit season].”
Capper said because the work was difficult and required high degrees of physical stamina and dexterity “there will always be a number of people to whom the work just isn’t suited”.
She said she did not believe the 32-hour minimum was a factor in dismissals, but that the pressure to be productive meant that it was impossible to “carry” significantly weaker pickers.
“There is a very strong need for farms to be able to deliver good productivity levels because of the pressure being born on pricing by their customers … it’s been very difficult during quite a significant period of inflation for growers to get an increase in the value of their produce from supermarkets. What that means is that the cost per kilo to pick is always under pressure.”
Capper said it was in growers’ interests to make their workplaces decent so that pickers returned each year but that those who were significantly too slow could not be kept on. “You will always have a small number of people who are picking below the average productivity level. If it’s just below, you live with it. But if it’s significantly below, you can’t afford to and actually, it’s not fair to the other workers either.
“No grower can afford to have workers picking crop at significantly below average productivity levels.”
A government spokesperson said: “The welfare of all visa holders is of paramount importance and decisive action will be taken if we believe abusive practices are occurring or the conditions of the seasonal workers route are not being met.”
“We have established clear requirements for organisations holding a sponsorship licence, emphasising those who benefit directly from migration are responsible for ensuring the immigration system is not abused.”
Guardian 8th Aug 2024: ‘Targets are unrealistic’: sacked fruit picker tells of treatment on Kent farm
Original Source: The Guardian by Emily Dugan – 8th August 2024
Kazakhstani man says he regrets coming to UK for seasonal work, but employer refutes account of his experience
It had been a sweltering morning picking cherries beneath plastic polytunnels in July when Ilyas finally lost his temper at the farm where he was working in Kent.
“We could hardly breathe in there,” he said. “It was very difficult to work because the weather was very hot.”
It was his first day harvesting the fruit, having spent several weeks thinning apple trees, and he says he was told he had not picked enough and was being sent back to the caravan early.
Not long after returning to the caravan, Ilyas’s contract was terminated and he was returned to Kazakhstan last month. He is one of a growing number of farm workers who have sought help with dismissal from the Worker Support Centre this season after travelling to work in British fields.
In a video recorded at the farm, Ilyas can be seen confronting a supervisor. He says “you treat us like animals” and that he had not signed up to “these unrealistic targets”.
Ilyas said the target was to pick about 15 boxes of black cherries a day and that each box contained between 6-7kg of cherries. He said that if about 10 cherries or more were bad within that then the whole box could be rejected.
In the video, recorded on 29 July, a supervisor tells him to stop filming and they argue. The supervisor tells him his work is finished for the day and when Ilyas asks why, the supervisor says “because you’ve not met targets today”.
The farm’s HR manager told the Guardian she believed Ilyas was removed from the fields to “diffuse the situation” due to his aggressive behaviour and that sending him home was “a last resort”.
Ilyas, 32, had been working on British farms since March after coming to the UK on a seasonal worker visa. As an educated IT worker, he was willing to try something different since he had the potential to earn more than double his Kazakhstani salary of about £830 a month.
Now he says he regrets the experience. “The targets are unrealistic and probably the aim of the managers was to squeeze everything possible in the shortest period of time.”
The farm, Mansfields in Kent, is one of the biggest in the country. It grows more than 25,000 tonnes of fruit each year over 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of farmland in several different sites.
Lee Port, the chief executive of Mansfields, said: “We use targets as much as possible as we need people to understand expectations from the moment they start working with us. On the first day of picking we communicate through training that the focus is on quality and that we would expect a first-time picker to pick around 50-60% of the target set.”
Port said the average across 250 staff was for three trays of cherries to be picked an hour and that Ilyas worked for 4.75 hours and picked an average of 0.8 an hour. He said experienced pickers were set the target of 3.5 trays an hour and that other new pickers in Ilyas’s team achieved an average of 1.5 trays an hour.
Port said Ilyas was picking “nearly half the expectation of a new picker and, when his performance had been raised as a concern and supervisors had tried to help with additional training earlier in the day, he started acting aggressively which continued throughout the morning”.
Port also said he had witness statements attesting to Ilyas “acting aggressively and demonstrating poor conduct”. He was issued a final warning as a result. He added: “If Ilyas hadn’t been aggressive he would not have been sent home.”
Port said of the polytunnels: “The working conditions are monitored daily, with risk assessments carried out by our health and safety departments. The cherry orchards are under plastic, but the fields are well-vented and staff start early to ensure optimum picking conditions for pickers and the fruit.”
Ilyas said he now has a job in Kazakhstan and has no intention of working on British farms again.
Port said workers were less productive as a result of the increased living wage. “One of the problems that we are seeing across industry is people happy with just hitting the minimum targets. When picking fruit in the orchards the staff have the opportunity to earn significantly more money on bonus, based on performance and quality of picking. With the living wage increasing as it has the staff are now happy with earnings and don’t seem to be as motivated.”
One of the reasons that Ilyas said he was not able to make as much money as he hoped was because of the amount he spent before coming to Britain. In addition to the cost of flights and visas, he said he had paid about $1,000 (£760) to a third party in Kazakhstan.
Ilyas said the company promised to find him work in the UK and that after about nine months of waiting it told him about Pro-Force, which recruited him and deployed him on several farms.
Pro-Force recruits at events in Kazakhstan and does not use third parties. But the company acknowledged that it regularly comes across scammers charging people to tell them about these events or, for example, to send them links to the Pro-Force website. It said when that happened it investigated and reported them to the Kazakh authorities.
Pro-Force said there was no log of Ilyas reporting that he made payments to a third party but it was investigating the company after the Guardian flagged it to them.
Pro-Force said: “Pro-Force places worker welfare front and centre of its operations and commits to such in its strategic objectives. The company has forged a reputation for doing so amongst peers and key industry stakeholders, in part due to the fact that it pioneers worker welfare initiatives such as the minimum 32 hours rule it introduced in 2019, and the UK’s first pilot employer pays principle scheme to take place in 2025.”
Asked about Ilyas’s case, Pro-Force said: “Though we are unable to comment on specifics, there were documented conduct and performance concerns with Ilyas – despite this, he was provided with two transfers prior to his final placement. An impasse was reached at his final placement where there had been concerns regarding his conduct and performance, and Ilyas left with only a matter of weeks remaining on his visa. Pro-Force is disappointed to hear of Ilyas’s dissatisfaction, and is committed to investigating his allegations should he provide us with the relevant information.”
Additional Reading:
6th Sept 2024: Aljazeera – Indonesian fruit-pickers say seasonal work in UK left them drowning in debt
ITV EXCLUSIVE 5th Sept 2024: Seasonal workers on British farms being given ‘unhealthy and dangerous’ accommodation
24th August 2024 TBIJ: ‘We sacrificed everything we had’: seasonal workers in UK left without jobs after Home Office decision
6th August 2024: Fruitnet – Indonesian picker allegations highlight risk of exploitation for seasonal workers
31st July 2024: BBC Indonesia –‘I’m at my wits end’ – The fate of Indonesia’s aspiring seasonal fruit pickers who have yet to be sent to the UK (translated from Bahasa)
21st July 2024: Guardian Exclusive Investigation – Indonesians who paid thousands to work on UK farm sacked within weeks
16th July 2024: Financial Times -UK food sector should cover migrant workers’ upfront costs, advisers say
Independent 2nd June 2024: Vulnerable workers coming to UK in post-Brexit deal at risk of bullying and sexual harassment, report finds
Independent 29th May 2024: UK ministers pressed ahead with seasonal worker visa scheme for migrants despite UN experts’ warning of forced labour and human trafficking risks
Bureau of Investigative Journalism 29th May 2024: Government expanded visa scheme weeks after UN raised alarm over people trafficking
BHRRC 23rd May 2024: UK – Leading supermarkets asked to meet costs of implementing the Employer Pays Principle across supply chains by civil society group (see 9th May 2024 below); incl. company responses
Bloomberg 22nd May 2024: Fruit Picker Who Said Her Hands Bled From Work Sues UK Employer
Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce Update 17th May 2024: SWS Taskforce update on Employer Pays Principle study
GROCER 10th May 2024: SOURCING Workers’ groups call on supermarkets to pay seasonal labour fees – The groups said there are risks farmers will be unable to comply to new rules
Guardian 9th May 2024: UK Government says employers may be required to pay travel and visa costs for people getting seasonal worker visas
9th May 2024: Landworker’s Alliance and Allies call for UK supermarkets to pay recruitment related fees and costs for migrant workers
April 30th 2024: BBC World –England again employs seasonal fruit pickers from Indonesia (translation)
The Grocer 30th Apr 2024: Growers brace for up to £90m in additional seasonal worker costs in UK in move towards internationally compliant zero cost responsible recruitment model for vulnerable migrant workers
3rd April 2024: Financial Times (London) UK employment – Britain’s seasonal worker scheme leaves many migrants in debt, research finds
3rd April 2024: Independent – Migrant fruit pickers saddled with debts of up to £5,500 to come to UK through government scheme
26th January 2024: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Modern Slavery Issues: Indonesian seasonal fruit pickers landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office
26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – UK government fails to protect workers from trafficking and exploitation
26th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Challenge to government’s Seasonal Worker Scheme
25th Jan 2024 Home Office: UK government survey on experiences of seasonal workers scheme confirms the exceptionally high levels of issues (confusion, fees etc) faced by Indonesian and Nepali workers in 2021/2022
24th Jan 2024: ATLEU – Seasonal worker recognised as a potential victim of trafficking
12th January 2024: UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy
FLEX 26th Oct 2023 – Seasonal Workers’ Rights; Who’s Responsible?
21st July 2023: Vulnerable UK migrant workers at risk as audits of farm recruiters stall
17th March 2023 BHRRC Blog Series: UK Seasonal Worker Scheme Endangers Vulnerable Foreign Workers. (My Op Ed)
23rd February 2023: Farm workers on UK seasonal visas to be guaranteed 32 hours a week
Other stories on challenges of UK seasonal worker scheme:
1. Working in the UK: Hundreds of Indonesian Citizens Escape, More Than 1,200 Workers from Indonesia Threatened to Cancel (BBC, 16th Feb 2023)
2. AG Recruitment, UK recruiter of debt-hit Indonesian and Nepali migrant workers, loses seasonal workers scheme license following forced labour related allegations, worker abscondments and asylum claims (Guardian, 10th Feb 2023)
3. Indonesian former fruit pickers become illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the UK – ‘This is the easiest shortcut’ (BBC, 26th Jan 2023)
4. Home Office accepts recommendations in Chief Inspector’s report on immigration system as it relates to the agricultural sector (Freeths, 16th Jan 2023)
5. Immigration: Investors warn food companies about risk of forced labour on UK farms (Financial Times 19th Dec 2022)
6. Investor statement on the UK Seasonal Worker Scheme (Public Investor Statement 19th Dec 2022)
7. Hundreds of Indonesian fruit pickers in UK seek diplomatic help (Guardian, 2nd Dec 2022)
8. Seasonal worker visa puts migrants at risk of exploitation, say supermarkets (Guardian, 2nd Dec 2022)
9. Seasonal fruit pickers from Nepal left thousands in debt after being sent home early from UK farms (Guardian, 13th Nov 2022)
10. Indonesia to investigate claims fruit pickers in UK seasonal agricultural workers scheme charged thousands to work in Kent (Guardian, 29th Aug 2022)
