The number of farm workers seeking help with dismissal after travelling to work in British fields and orchards has soared over the past year, according to research.
The trend is thought to be in part because of pressure to meet picking targets, the challenges faced by farmers trying to stay profitable and an unintended consequence of new laws guaranteeing minimum hours.
The Worker Support Centre (WSC), which is based in Scotland but supports seasonal workers across the UK, said the number of people coming to them in June and July this year for help with dismissal issues was more than double that of the same period last year.
The problem may be the tip of the iceberg as workers who have just arrived in the country are very likely to be unsure how to seek help.
The WSC said it had been approached by 47 people for advice about dismissal between June and July, compared with 22 last year – and that 60 workers had raised concerns about high productivity targets with the organisation so far this year.
Caroline Robinson, the director of the organisation, said: “At the Worker Support Centre we regularly hear about workers being given very high picking targets and threatened with dismissal for not reaching them, as early as their second week into the job.
“Most workers incur debts to travel to the UK on the seasonal worker visa, a visa on which it is not possible to just leave the farm and find alternative work. The risks when workers lose their job are often so high that some will endure extremely difficult working conditions.”
In July the Guardian revealed that Indonesian fruit pickers who had paid thousands of pounds to come to work in Britain were sacked within weeks for not working fast enough. For those who spend large sums coming to the UK, dismissals before the end of a six-month visa raise the risk of returning in debt.
Many of those supporting workers believe a rise in dismissals is an unintended consequence of rules introduced this year requiring farms to guarantee at least 32 hours of work to those on seasonal visas. They say the change has made it less attractive for farms to keep workers who are slower, because they no longer have the option of using them for fewer hours.
Robinson said the government needed to act to make sure the visa did more to protect workers. “The practice of using dismissal threats and picking rates as a means of getting workers to compete with each other to reach what some say are unobtainable targets, within a visa system where people have very few choices but to submit, comes dangerously close to the definition of forced labour and is something to which this new government should rapidly turns its attention.”
In its mid-year report, the WSC said it was experiencing its hardest season of work yet, “with more daily contacts for assistance than at any other point in the history of our service”. The organisation also recorded that 12 workers described being sacked after raising complaints.
Adis Sehic, of the Work Rights Centre, a charity supporting migrants in precarious employment, said he believed a rise in dismissals was linked to the introduction of minimum hours. “There’s an incentive for [farmers] to make sure that everyone that is working on their farm is actually working and is also as productive as they can be. Unfortunately, there’s no regulation, at least in England, on productivity rates for seasonal workers. That’s set by farms and clearly changes daily, depending on what the weather’s like and conditions at the farm.
“So what we think is happening is that seasonal workers are arriving, they’re getting the training, they’re getting these targets, but after a couple of weeks, they’re getting dismissed because there’s no regulation on productivity.”
Alison Capper, the chair of British Apples and Pears, which represents UK growers of the fruit, pointed out the sample size of the research was relatively small and that there would always be some dismissals on farms.
Capper, who also runs an apple and hops farm and relies on seasonal workers using the visa, said: “I’m not surprised that there will be a small number of dismissals and issues around pay going on in the peak [of the soft fruit season].”
Capper said because the work was difficult and required high degrees of physical stamina and dexterity “there will always be a number of people to whom the work just isn’t suited”.
She said she did not believe the 32-hour minimum was a factor in dismissals, but that the pressure to be productive meant that it was impossible to “carry” significantly weaker pickers.
“There is a very strong need for farms to be able to deliver good productivity levels because of the pressure being born on pricing by their customers … it’s been very difficult during quite a significant period of inflation for growers to get an increase in the value of their produce from supermarkets. What that means is that the cost per kilo to pick is always under pressure.”
Capper said it was in growers’ interests to make their workplaces decent so that pickers returned each year but that those who were significantly too slow could not be kept on. “You will always have a small number of people who are picking below the average productivity level. If it’s just below, you live with it. But if it’s significantly below, you can’t afford to and actually, it’s not fair to the other workers either.
“No grower can afford to have workers picking crop at significantly below average productivity levels.”
A government spokesperson said: “The welfare of all visa holders is of paramount importance and decisive action will be taken if we believe abusive practices are occurring or the conditions of the seasonal workers route are not being met.”
“We have established clear requirements for organisations holding a sponsorship licence, emphasising those who benefit directly from migration are responsible for ensuring the immigration system is not abused.”
