More migrant workers claim UK form exploitation

The BBC has learned that the number of foreign workers seeking help on the claims of exploitation, bullying, underpayments and bad situation on the UK fields has increased significantly, the BBC has learned.

Around 700 foreign seasonal agricultural laborers complained to Worker Support Center (WSC) National Charity in 2024, they were being misbehaved by farmers who used to bring them to work, compared to just 400 in 2023.

A former fruit picker reported that the BBC peacock should be done to protect the migrants from behaving like slaves.

The UK government said that if derogatory practices are found on the fields, it always takes “decisive action”.

Bolivian Julia Quiceno Casimiro came to UK on a seasonal activist visa, to take cherries for the Hearfordshire-based farm business Hagro.

Ms. Qasimiro is currently carrying the company into an employment tribunal on the basis of unfair dismissal, discrimination and wages, and now a campaign for better security for seasonal agricultural laborers.

In an initial judgment, the home office found that it was appropriate to believe that Ms. Qasimiro could have been a victim of modern slavery.

He said that the BBC feared that he feared that the correct measure of exploitation of workers was a “hidden problem”, saying: “Many seasonal workers have violated their rights at this time.

“Whatever is happening is very serious because we do not have access to any help or support.

“If the UK government does not tell what is happening there, then it will continue to be more victims of modern slavery.”

A spokesperson to Hegrove said that the dissatisfaction of Ms. Qasimiro was inspired by an discrepancy in the marked value of flight tickets and the amount lent to the workers for tickets, and less than the specific hours available in the month of July, as a result of exceptional weather, as a result of extraordinary weather. . conditions.

The company said that its allegations are “physically wrong and misleading” and this “was not the charge of this nature earlier in our business history”.

This told the BBC that its practices were audited regularly by a series of many third-party bodies including “Gangmaster and Labor Abuse Authority (GLAA), Home Office, British Retail Consortium, Red Tractor/Ashword Production, Leaf, Soil, including Soil. Is the Association and Sadex “.

The company said that Ms. Qasimiro worked in Heford for 11 days before leaving a free air ticket house, and her claims were based on “short -term, snapshot, atipical experience”.

“We take great care of ensuring fairness and equality in our recruitment and working processes,” the spokesperson said.

The company said it is collaborating with a nationwide GLAA investigation of how companies recruited 20 Indonesian workers.

In the last summer, those workers claimed that they were charged illegal fees by agencies admitted abroad to come to Britain.

The spokesperson of Hegrove said: “We are deeply concerned with the claims that Indonesian workers were charged illegal fees by recruitment agents, which is strict against our policy and principles.”

He said that the company made any allegation of misconduct “very seriously” and “fully collaborated with the investigation by GLAA”.

Hegrove “committed to fair employment practices and the good of all our workers”, he said.

The government’s seasonal agricultural activists will provide 43,000 visas for the horticulture industry and 2,000 for poultry farms this year.

Earlier last year by environment, food and rural affairs (Defra), a survey found that 91% of respondents reported positive experience working on UK fields.

However, WSC, which works to prevent the misuse of marginalized workers, stated that it deal with an increase in complaints about the plan during 2024.

A person from Kyrgyzstan, who worked on separate fields in England and Scotland and for more than three years, told the WSC that he was expected to live under bad conditions, was discriminated against and incorrectly dismissed Was given.

The worker, who wanted to be anonymous to protect future job opportunities, told the BBC through a translator that he felt that the standards had deteriorated at that time and the fielders of the farm had the good of the workers, or salary of the workers. Did not care about the level of.

The WSC stated that its Cassworkers worked with 158 farm laborers in a month in the last summer and referred to 19 cases in which 101 persons were included in the enforcement agencies. The workers were mainly Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek.

Charity wants to review the seasonal agricultural activist scheme and presents any risk of exploitation.

A home office spokesperson said his employees had visited 318 farms and interviewed more than 2,100 activists, which improved to prevent exploitation and poor working situation every year.

“We will always take decisive action where we believe that derogatory practices are happening or the conditions of the route are not fulfilled,” he said.

The National Farmers Union said that foreign activists were “invaluable” for British farmers, who take “employee welfare very seriously and are working continuously. The way they work to provide the best experience for workers. “.

A spokesperson said that most of the workers have “a good experience in the UK, resulting in many seasons to the same farm season”.