CAMPAIGN Seasonal migrant workers


such as Romania, where most migrant workers came from before Brexit. But the GLAA’s resources have not risen to keep pace with the increase in the number of countries from which workers are now being recruited – a total of 58 in 2021.


“We knew something like this was going to happen,” she said. “Everyone who works on labour rights, modern slavery and trafficking has been saying from day one that there is a massive chance that we're going to have exploitation taking place through the scheme because of its design and the lack of resourcing going into it.”


The seasonal worker scheme, which issued just under 2,500 visas in 2019, is expecting to issue as many as 40,000 this year. Meanwhile, the Home Office’s funding for the GLAA last year was £7m – less than the amount it spent on publications, stationery and printing.


Data released by the Home Office in May shows that Nepal has provided 395 seasonal workers to the UK in the first three months of this year – the fourth-highest country on the list. Several workers who went to Cobrey farm told the Bureau that the recruitment fees made up a significant proportion of their earnings. One Nepalese migrant who worked cutting asparagus and picking blueberries said he had paid a total of £3,100 to a recruiter. He said the farm’s HR team learned in the summer of the “exorbitant fees” some workers said had been charged by My Careers HR Solutions.


Ditya said she paid £4,420, including a £1,260 deposit that was returned to her when she had returned to Nepal. When Concordia asked about recruitment fees during its


investigation, she lied, saying she had only paid for her visa and flight, because she “didn't want to get in trouble”.


Chris Chinn, whose family runs Cobrey, said that the farm notifies and cooperates with the GLAA in the event of any alleged or observed breach of labour standards. He said Cobrey’s licence means it has been “assessed as meeting the rigorous standards set by the GLAA”.


Concordia’s Simon Bowyer said that his company would not be refunding the workers, but would like to see My Careers HR Solutions do so. “I don't know the exact nature of the relationship between My Careers and Poseidon,” he said, but we were not happy when we found that relationship – whatever it was – existed.”


The Bureau has also seen training certificates issued to Cobrey workers that feature the logos of the British Council and Ofqual, both of which told the Bureau that they have not accredited any of the people or companies named in the documents. Hurley put this down to a “certification mistake” that was being addressed.


Unite national officer Bev Clarkson was horrified, but not surprised when she read this feature. “Unite and its’ predecessors have long been campaigning to protect migrant food production workers. Over Covid we


“


Everyone [campaigning against] modern slavery has been saying there’s a massive chance we're going to have exploitation taking place through the scheme – because of its design and the lack of re- sourcing


Emily Kenway


former adviser to anti- slavery commissioner


”


saw how badly workers were treated, working in unsafe conditions – sadly some even died.


“It seems that now we’re out of the EU, migrant workers’ lives have become even more precarious. It’s crucial that we now campaign for greater safety, better pay, dignity and respect so the tragedies we’ve seen in the past do not happen again.”


* Name changed to protect privacy


This story (apart from the final two paragraphs) first appeared in Guardian of May 27. Emiliano Mellino is a journalist and community organiser at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Many thanks to the Bureau for their kind permission in letting us reproduce this feature.


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Do you have a story for Emiliano? Contact the Landworker office in the first instance. Your identity will be confidential and protected at all times. Email: amanda.campbell@ unitetheunion.org


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