06-06-2006, 01:02 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Uber Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Woking
Posts: 30,604
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It's Not All Strawberries and Cream
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13663
Quote:
The pickers are welcomed by the majority of people in Leominster, but there is concern that the migrant labour force is being taken advantage of. This weekend, a straw poll of 50 people working in the tunnels suggested many pickers are as angry as Mrs Salisbury. Those who spoke English said they were being paid less than they expected, that they had to wait for payment, that the accommodation was expensive, that they had paid too much to get there and that the management were unduly profiting from their stay.
Because of changes in the visa requirements, many pickers this year are not agricultural students, as in the past, but people such as welders, policemen and teachers seeking a better rate of pay than they get for doing their jobs at home.
"In Lithuania I earn £200 a month," said Mindaugas, a Vilnius policeman. "I thought I could earn more here. It looks like I am not going to. It cost more than I thought to get here; it costs more to live."
"None of us like strawberry picking," said Svetlana, a Ukrainian student. "Today I have earned £23. But I must pay £35 a week to live in a box with three other people. Perhaps I earn £150 in a week, but when I have paid for food, accommodation, tax, everything, maybe I have £70 for a six days. It's not good".
"The money is bad," said Artur, a waiter from the Czech Republic. "We waited days to have work. Last year we heard there was a strike here, perhaps here is one too, this year. It is like a prison. I have been given a yellow card already. One more and I am sent home."
"Work it out," said Waldemar, a Ukrainian student. "There are 3,500 of us. We pay £35 a week to stay here. The season is 20 weeks. That's millions of pounds they get from us."
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That's right! There is a reason why the British people don't want these jobs! Tone might think it's O.K to con some plebs to do it, but it's just storing up more problems for the country.
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