The UK produce trade needs to ditch the perception of British people as “lazy” when hiring farm labour.
That is the view of the authors of a new book published by Compas, the ERSC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at the University of Oxford, on agricultural labour.
The book’s editors Martin Ruhs and Bridget Anderson believe a sea change is needed in attitudes to achieve a sustainable equilibrium in providing work, a stable economy and opportunities for British people.
Anderson argues that agency staff suffer weaker employment rights than those directly employed, meaning the law falls harder on migrants because they are disproportionately likely to be agency staff.
In the book, entitled Who needs Migrant Workers? Labour Shortages, Immigration and Public Policy, she writes: “Enforcement of rights for all workers is weak, and the Agricultural Wages Board is threatened with being wound up, removing another layer of protection.”
Anderson said that “there is a need to move away from stereotypes like certain nationalities are more hardworking, or British people are lazy”.
She argues migrants may not be looking for long-term engagement with the labour market, and so are more prepared to take jobs that are temporary, or that have no defined career paths, as opposed to UK nationals for whom “it can be difficult to come on and off benefit as may be required for seasonal work”.
Also immigration controls often make migrants appear more reliable than UK nationals as they risk breaking conditions of entry if they change employer, the book argues.
Anderson said: “We have to think about these issues of supply and demand, and how much we, as a society, are prepared to change them, in order to answer whether a sector is over-reliant on migrant labour. So are we prepared to change the benefit system, for instance, to make it easier for people to do seasonal work?”
Ruhs added: “The question is whether UK immigration policy will - and should - grant non-EU workers access to jobs in the UK’s fruit and vegetable industry.”
No comments yet