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cooperman
30 Mar 20 16:44
Joined:
Date Joined: 27 Apr 07
| Topic/replies: 12,899 | Blogger: cooperman's blog
Need to import massive amounts of temporary staff from abroad to pick their fruit and veg apparently. Try offering a decent wage to the tens of thousands of currently unemployed Brits instead of importing cheap labour. AngryAngryAngry
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Report jollyswagman March 30, 2020 4:50 PM BST
fear not for i am a gang master and i have thousands of strawberry pickers flying in from wuhan to help out Scared
Report Coachbuster March 30, 2020 4:54 PM BST
unemployed Brits won't do the work .

time for a sensible approach ...pay the  unemployed to pick them  but allowing them to have a decent standard of living .  Pay per work done so not complying to any daft minimum wage issues ...pickers maybe able to earn up to 200 a week say 

we will call it an Incentive

pay money into accounts ,pay housing benefit and council tax but not JSA  ...see how it goes
Report Crisp77 March 30, 2020 5:12 PM BST
Cant the newly released prisoners pick them
Report casemoney March 30, 2020 5:14 PM BST
The way this is Going the only things being picked will be Noses
Report Coachbuster March 30, 2020 5:16 PM BST
or  serving prisoners  Cool
Report acey deucy March 30, 2020 5:17 PM BST
Fackin Farmers stinking my Village out again how the fook do they get away with it?AngryAngry
Report Coachbuster March 30, 2020 5:18 PM BST
i've done fruit picking and it's  hard work   ... the ladies who used to do it full time were highly skilled pickers  ...   some actually earned OK money doing it  ..

aslo  getting stung by wasps frequently ain't much fun
Report Injera March 30, 2020 5:19 PM BST
Great opportunity for UK kids to get some pocket money. I picked strawberries and apples years ago. Strawberries is back breaking but it learns you about the real world.

They’re too busy taking gap years in Phuket and surfing in Newquay.
Report flushgordon1 March 30, 2020 5:21 PM BST
Get orf moi fooking land.
Report acey deucy March 30, 2020 5:22 PM BST
Yeah I picked Potatoes for a Farmer when I was a Kid, broke my back for a Full Day and he handed me two and six I nearly cried....Had a grudge against Farmers ever since.Plain
Report thegiggilo March 30, 2020 5:24 PM BST
They love theor animals apparently,especially with roast potatoes..
Report casemoney March 30, 2020 5:45 PM BST
Farmers are a Pain in the Arris
Report cooperman March 30, 2020 6:18 PM BST
acey Laugh
Report 1st time poster March 30, 2020 6:28 PM BST
before anyone,anywhere rings,

NOT WITH MY FOOOOOOOKING BACK LaughLaugh
Report moisok March 30, 2020 6:28 PM BST
there's plenty of the incoming work force in sheffield but wonder if they can shift their butts after finding the welfare office
Report Just Checking March 30, 2020 6:40 PM BST
acey deucy • March 30, 2020 5:22 PM BST
broke my back for a Full Day and he handed me two and six I nearly cried....
--
Rookie mistake. Everyone knows when bending over for money, you should make sure you get it up front.
Report acey deucy March 30, 2020 11:41 PM BST
J.C I was expecting at least a fiver even back then.Grin
Report politicspunter March 31, 2020 10:20 AM BST

Mar 30, 2020 -- 5:16PM, Coachbuster wrote:


or  serving prisoners 


they plough the fields and scatter...

Report Just Checking March 31, 2020 1:35 PM BST
I was bent over for a bit doing some DIY a couple of months ago and my lower back cramped. I think my potato picking days are now over.

But from what I've seen of modern fruit farms while they are still labour intensive it's not nearly so back breaking.
Like strawberries raised up to a nice height on hydroponics in a polytunnel, not at worm height in the rain.

The wage is above minimum wage as well, you can apparently good pickers can earn a fair bit more, and that was before supply/demand shifted in favour of the picker.

It wouldn't say much for our country if we can't get anyone to do such jobs as we're all too good for it now, assuming lockdown can be lessened.
Report 1st time poster March 31, 2020 1:44 PM BST
seen some footage of asparagus picking your sat in something that looks like a rickshaw
Report 1st time poster March 31, 2020 1:45 PM BST
tatty picking back in the day was backbreaking but that was only half the problem the gang leader whacking you with a stick didn't help,Laugh
Report 1st time poster March 31, 2020 1:48 PM BST
40/50 years ago 30 young lads in the back of a wooden sided pick up lorry trundling along shopite roads was like leaving home for days,but with todays cars,road infrastructure was probably only 15 mins up the road,Laugh
Report acey deucy March 31, 2020 2:15 PM BST
Potato picking was a real killer on yer back we used to pray for the tractor to break down so we could have a rest.Laugh
Report Whisperingdeath March 31, 2020 4:05 PM BST
Walofs

Not once have I head a journalist ask a farmer what the pay is for this highly skilled and important job!
Report 1st time poster March 31, 2020 4:17 PM BST
minim,um wage same as cleaners,porters,bin men, etc doing their best to help save lives at present
Report Charlie March 31, 2020 4:23 PM BST
I think it will be a serious problem.
Report cooperman March 31, 2020 5:12 PM BST
Seasonal workers from Europe are so important because fruit and veg is a very labour intensive sector – and because it’s nigh-on impossible to find Brits willing to do the job.

At least that’s what growers claim.

So why exactly is it so hard to hire Brits for farm jobs? We look at the key factors - and challenge a few myths.
It’s the money, stupid

Many believe there’s a simple explanation: money. Growers pay a pittance and only workers from deprived parts of Eastern Europe are desperate enough to accept their poverty wages, they argue. If growers paid decent money, they’d be able to hire British workers.

But what’s the reality? There are no official figures for average wage rates, but feedback from the industry suggests the average wage for fruit pickers typically sits at or just above the national living wage (currently £7.50), with opportunities to earn more dependent on hours worked and productivity bonuses.

Laurence Olins, chairman of British Summer Fruits, puts average pay at between £8.50 and £10.00 depending on speed of work, while Steven Munday, CEO of trade body British Apples & Pears, says in his sector it is on average £300 and £350 a week based on 40 hours worked at £7.50 to £9. “Many can earn more by doing up to 60 hours or piece work. We have a good number earning over £500 per week on a 48-hour week,” he adds. Supervisors also earn more.
Report 1st time poster March 31, 2020 5:19 PM BST
so its piece work inexperienced getting least,getting worst jobs etc,etc,thats a big turn off for starters,
no I  in team
T ogether
E veryone
A chieves
M ore,

on balance tell,m to  RAM IT LaughLaugh
Report politicspunter March 31, 2020 6:28 PM BST
Then the farmer takes half it off them for board and lodging.
Report cooperman March 31, 2020 6:32 PM BST
Eight in a derelict caravan, that'll be £150 per week sir.
Report 1st time poster March 31, 2020 7:00 PM BST
LaughLaugh, bloke near me has a ship repair business wont employ uk lads has 40/50 Ukrainians,but they spend best part of an hr leaving boat having a 20 min break  and getting back on boat,before their half shift in 12 hr shift so employed someone to cook them egg and chips in the ships galley to keep them on board for 20 min tea break,
happy to report the greedy kooont went bankrupt a few months back, LaughLaugh,

they were known locally as the egg n chip squad, Laugh
Report mad mad moon March 31, 2020 7:35 PM BST
Easy solution.
For all those 18-30s claiming asylum, once you’ve had the interview, checks etc , you have to do one years fruit and veg picking.
Any that refuse or don’t do the year get deported.
Bit like a modern national service.
Report Injera March 31, 2020 8:09 PM BST
Good idea! Need something in the winter. Litter picking?
Report Whisperingdeath March 31, 2020 8:38 PM BST
and it is not “ easy “ work. If you are going to work that hard you would want to be paid more for it.

I too do believe it will be a serious problem this summer and Autumn and of course the Government have not got a scooby. The only hope is some people will be desperate fir food and money.

The other thing of course with the move away from the land it can be a trek to get to some farms. A very long unpaid walk or a risky drive in a clapped out uninsured car for others.

Pay will have to go up and so will prices. Then w3 shall see how much sympathy there is for pickers! I have to sat though I would have to be desperate or hungry to be a picker!

I think our crims and lifestyle benefit people should be encouraged to pick. Anyone on the chat for more than 6 months or even 12 should be offered incentives! Coaches could be arranged to pick them up and drop them off.
Report Injera March 31, 2020 8:42 PM BST
About time we paid more for fresh veg and fruit anyway.
Report saddo March 31, 2020 8:46 PM BST
I will happily do so if it's grown here.
Report Whisperingdeath March 31, 2020 8:46 PM BST
Yes absolutely

Food is so cheap in this country. I cannot believe how much food is thrown away it is sinful.

Not only do people not know how to cook with leftovers they thrown stuff out still fresh in the packet.
Report 1st time poster March 31, 2020 8:53 PM BST
food is so cheap correct as me and so called remoners have been dsaying for 4 years but brexiteers reckon they can strike deals with American agri foods and transport chicken half way round the world,sell it cheaper here and everyone makes a tidy sum, when you can already buy it here for pennies,
no deals with china
food all ready to cheap here

brexiteers becoming remoaners by the day, LaughLaugh
Report moisok March 31, 2020 9:38 PM BST
you think some of our crims should do the picking  - there's a lot of imported already taking the pickings up and down motorways and in the shops  'shopping'   they seem to be quite a lot of them around

too busy to work in the fields
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