Protests by fruit pickers and farmers put spotlight on price of cheap food in UK
Protests by fruit pickers and farmers put spotlight on price of cheap food in UK
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In two actions, migrant workers claim exploitation while farmers demonstrate against inheritance tax plan. This is a tale of two countrysides. One was featured prominently on Saturday by broadcasters as farmers held demonstrations throughout the UK against inheritance tax plans they believe will cripple family farms.
A smaller protest staged a day earlier outside the Home Office received almost no attention. A small band of fruit and vegetable pickers, mainly from Latin America, were highlighting their battle against what they call the exploitation of migrant workers.
The two actions came from opposing ends of the political spectrum. The migrant worker protest was backed by the Landworkers’ Alliance and Unite, all union banners and loudhailers. Protesters who gathered at a farm a few miles from Heathrow airport, preparing to drive a tractor convoy past Windsor Castle to Maidenhead, were joined by Tory MPs and marshalled by an avuncular leader wearing a tweed cap and red trousers.
This is not a tale of opposing sides, however. There was considerable common ground between the two groups and agreement that they were paying the price for Britain’s cheap food. Outside the Home Office on Friday afternoon, Julia Quecaño Casimiro led proceedings, explaining through a translator that she and other people on the seasonal worker scheme had been treated “like animals”.
Employment tribunal hearings are due to begin this week to decide their claims for unlawful deduction of wages, unfair dismissal, discrimination and harassment against Haygrove, a business which runs five farms in the UK growing strawberries, cherries and other berries.
