With farm owners protesting today over the prospect of paying a highly discounted inheritence tax, I'm sure you've seen quotes about how they "feed the nation". But nobody is talking about the migrant workers who actually pick the crops on horticulture farms, so here's a short thread about them. - ThreadSky

mellino.bsky.social • 96 days ago

With farm owners protesting today over the prospect of paying a highly discounted inheritence tax, I'm sure you've seen quotes about how they "feed the nation".

But nobody is talking about the migrant workers who actually pick the crops on horticulture farms, so here's a short thread about them.

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Comments

claudieann.bsky.social•96 days ago

Thank you for arming us with facts. Very glad I came to this platform where the good people hang out

claudieann.bsky.social•96 days ago

Thanks for reposting. It’s so important (and refreshing) to have facts when some twat starts baying loudly on this issue

cv-danes.com•95 days ago

Or how our economic system requires a powerless, low paid underclass of near-enslaved people to 'feed the nation'

jackmonroe.bsky.social•96 days ago

📌

jimc5.bsky.social•94 days ago

What year did Steinbeck win the Nobel for Literature?

Is Grapes of Wrath required reading in the UK?

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

The UK's horticulture sector relies on migrants to pick crops. For years it was people from eastern Europe who came via freedom of movement. When Brexit happen this route closed off so the government created the 6-month seasonal worker visa.

Since its inception its been riddled with exploitation.

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

In early 2023 we uncovered widespread mistreatment. Issues ranged from not going to the toilet for fear of not hitting targets, to being made to work in gale-force winds.

Some said they were threatened by recruiters with being deported or blacklisted. https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-03-27/they-treat-you-like-an-animal-how-british-farms-run-on-exploitation/

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

We also found workers were paying farmers as much as £2000 per month to live in cramped six-person caravans that were smaller than a one-bed flat.

Often the caravans were draughty, cold and infested with vermin. https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-04-13/its-almost-the-same-as-living-on-the-street-this-is-how-people-picking-your-vegetables-have-to-live/

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

Then, following a 5-month FOI battle we got our hands on 19 farm inspection reports. Workers interviewed for these reports raised issues including racism, wage theft, threats of being sent back home and illegal recruitment fees of as much as £7,500.

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-10-22/all-that-is-missing-is-a-whip-home-office-ignored-migrant-worker-abuses-on-farms/

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

We also found that the government did not investigate any of the hundreds of allegations raised by workers. Even though in nearly two thirds(12 out of 19) of farms inspected in 2021 & 2022,workers said they were not always paid for the hours they worked.
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-10-22/all-that-is-missing-is-a-whip-home-office-ignored-migrant-worker-abuses-on-farms/

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

Things have gotten so bad that even the UN special rapporteur for contemporary forms of slavery wrote to the government saying it was concerned by evidence of modern slavery being present on the visa scheme.

Still the government extended the scheme. https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-05-29/government-expanded-visa-scheme-weeks-after-un-raised-alarm-over-people-trafficking/

loufioravanti.bsky.social•96 days ago

I have direct experience of that exploitation: many years ago I was desperate for money and decided to give fruit picking a go. As soon as I arrived it was clear that the conditions were unacceptable. The farmer was not expecting me to be fluent in English, because of my Italian name, and reacted…

loufioravanti.bsky.social•96 days ago

really badly to my confronting me about the state of the broken down caravan they expect me to sleep in. He was aggressive and I feared violence, so I walked off the farm, in Kent, when it was already dark. I had to call the police, who kindly found me and drove me to the train station.

cellah26.bsky.social•96 days ago

If only they had been as concerned & vocal about "feeding the nation" when it came to many supporting brexit....
They have the 7 year rule (no inheritance tax payment & that tappers off) unless they don't trust their children.......

solelyfictional.bsky.social•96 days ago

Farmers wanted brexit because they (correctly) figured that they weren't voting to cut migration, they were voting for migrants workers with less rights than EU citizens, and less ramifications for breaching the few rights they do have.

marink3.bsky.social•95 days ago

This is only one small sector. Most farms employ very few workers including seasonal workers. Freedom of movement was the perfect solution for seasonal workers. The visa system means cost for everyone and more risk of exploitation #rejoinEU

janetmsageobserver.bsky.social•96 days ago

Thank you. The low paid labour, tied accommodation, poor working conditions, no pensions....
Agricultural profits are hard grift for some

samproctor.bsky.social•96 days ago

Ok I stand corrected

samproctor.bsky.social•96 days ago

Agriculture not horticulture surely?

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

The above investigations cover the seasonal worker visa, which is primarily designed for the horticulture sector. Unlike arabale, dairy or livestock, horticulture is very labour intensive, especially in the peak summer picking season.

marink3.bsky.social•95 days ago

I support family farmers 100%. Most working farms employ very few people nowadays. But this sector - fruit, vegetables etc needs seasonal workers. And this is the sort of Brexit ‘benefit’ the Tories wanted. Exploiting and mistreating workers like this can never be acceptable.

cole0007.bsky.social•96 days ago

Listed to @mrjamesob.bsky.social trade expert caller. India-UK trade deal had little to no protections for uk workers. I saw this as paying India workers on rupees by a company (prob Infosys) who’d then be paid in£s making £millions/Bil. Sunak pushed this deal, Badenock failed to get it signed

carolwalker.bsky.social•96 days ago

Sunak would push it Infosys is owned by his father in law and his wife has shares

quentinbudworth.bsky.social•96 days ago

Amazing work Emilliano - thank you for sharing. A follow from me and for the bureau.

mellino.bsky.social•96 days ago

Thank you for your kind words and the follow!

jamesmagee.bsky.social•96 days ago

jjp2024.bsky.social•96 days ago

Scrap all inheritance tax. It is a stupid thieving tax

jenny-johnny.bsky.social•95 days ago

Enjoying operating theatre ceilings collapsing mid op and the total impossibility of getting a GP appointment are you jjp? Fixing that kind of thing is what these 'stupid thieving' taxes are for. If you want to avoid them you can always gift your assets to your descendants 7 years before you die.

jjp2024.bsky.social•95 days ago

Foolish if you believe that.

altibel.bsky.social•96 days ago

Same play-book as the agro-industrialists in the Netherlands 🙄

ducado.bsky.social•95 days ago

Not to mention the glass houses of Almeria in Spain

fernmonkey.bsky.social•96 days ago

As a British citizen now living in NL, I have a bad case of "must be a day with a D in it, the farmers are kicking off again".

lukepiper.bsky.social•96 days ago

I was thinking exactly this and of the clients we support who have been exploited in this area. Farmers painting a romanticised English countryside picture of their sector in the way they do makes me unsympathetic to their complaint.

dranniehickox.bsky.social•96 days ago

Absolutely.
You get a follow from me for this.

janestr.bsky.social•96 days ago

And from me!

lukepiper.bsky.social•96 days ago

why thank you!

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