It was only around 24 months ago I was attending a meeting at the NFU about the cessation of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS). I stated in that meeting that I could foresee a shortage of quality labour going forward, a view that was seemed to be regarded as incredulous at the time with hundreds of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians (A2 countries) having free access to the UK from 1 January 2014. However, two years on and we are now already seeing a degradation in the quality of the workforce.
Production horticulture, when given as a choice, is not the preferred line of work for A2 workers with strong skill sets, when other industries such as automotive production, food processing, construction and manufacturing are paying better wages than agriculture or horticulture, and the work environment is indoor rather than exposed to the elements.
This leaves us with an older migrant workforce with fewer skill sets, limited English and probably not the work ethic that younger people may have. When I speak to other multiple labour suppliers or grower groups, they are having exactly the same issues as HOPS.
Workers are also becoming picky. With the marvels of social media, they are very much aware of which growers provide great working conditions and pay rates, offer quality accommodation and provide recreational facilities. Growers with a somewhat Dickensian view on working conditions need to wake up and smell the coffee, as they are now competing against other farms for the best workers.
Sticking to the Dickensian viewpoint, ETI auditors are becoming interested in traceability and sourcing of workforce, paying particular interest to workers paying work finding fees. The industry has seen many guises of new labour providers in the last 18 months, from traditional illegal gangmasters to labour providers with dubious training schemes that seem to fly straight in the face of GLA guidelines.
By far the most concerning is the ‘friends and family’ scenario, with a returnee bringing the promise of workers from his village or extended family. I can assure you they are not doing it for free, and the grower is then complicit in using an unlicenced gangmaster with the illegality that brings.
While on the subject of ETIs, we have seen more activity from audit companies drilling down through recruitment processes in varying degrees of ferocity. HOPS has voluntarily gone down an external Sedex audit process, as have others, and this may well become the norm for labour providers going forward. And although I’m not one for reams of paperwork, this may be necessary to meet the requirements of retailers, and if it helps in the goal of zero tolerance in modern slavery terms then it will have all been worthwhile.
