UK labour shortage: 'It used to be easy to get fruit pickers'

英国劳动力短缺:“过去摘果工人很容易找到”


(The seasonal fruit picking industry is struggling because of Brexit and the pandemic.)

(由于英国脱欧和新冠肺炎疫情,时令水果采摘行业正在苦苦挣扎。)
新闻:

A recent government report warned that labour shortages "caused by Brexit and accentuated by the pandemic" were badly affecting our food and farming sector, with fruit suppliers often forced to leave produce rotting in the fields.

最近的一份政府报告警告称,“由英国脱欧造成、并因疫情加剧”的劳动力短缺严重影响了我们的食品和农业部门,水果供应商往往被迫将农产品留在地里腐烂。
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One fruit farm in Suffolk is already feeling the pinch. With strawberries ripe and ready, why are there not enough people to pick them?

萨福克郡的一个水果农场已经感受到了压力。草莓成熟了,准备好了,可为什么没有足够的工人去采摘呢?
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'We need pickers'

“我们需要摘果工”

Andrew Sturgeon owns Lindsey Lodge Farm near Hadleigh, Suffolk, and says that from the "end of May into June we are full on, picking fruit".

安德鲁·斯特金在萨福克郡哈德雷附近拥有林赛·洛奇农场,他说从“5月底到6月,我们都在忙着摘水果”。

"We need pickers, there is a limit to the amount of time you could expect anyone to pick fruit," he says.

“我们需要摘果工,你指望能找到摘果工的时间是有限的,”他说。

"We have 11 pickers now but we'd like to get 15 or 16."

“我们现在有11个摘果工,但我们想要15或16个。”

He is hopeful he will "get some people in the next few weeks" as school and university students become available.

他希望“未来几周能找到一些人”,因为学校和大学的学生都有空。
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"The constant battle of balancing supply and demand is probably the biggest worry but you've got to have the supply, you've got to have the pickers to get into that position of concern," he says.

他表示:“供需平衡的持续斗争可能是最大的担忧,但你必须先有供应,你必须先招到采摘工,才有资格有那种担忧。”

"We had a system where if someone [from the EU] dropped out from our team they would introduce a friend or relative to take their place. That's no longer possible and that's caused the problems we're seeing today."

“我们的体系是,如果有人(来自欧盟)退出我们的团队,他们会介绍一位朋友或亲戚来顶替他们的位置。如今这已经不可能了,这就造成了我们今天看到的问题。”

Last year, the government issued 30,000 seasonal worker visas, but Mr Sturgeon said the "horticultural industry needs 80,000 or 90,000 workers".

去年,政府签发了3万份季节性工人签证,但斯特金表示,“园林行业需要8万到9万名工人”。
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He says following Brexit, people from the EU "will have chosen to go home and those are the people we need replacing".

他表示,在英国脱欧之后,来自欧盟的人“将选择回家,而这些人是我们需要想办法取代的”。

"It was very easy to get pickers and now it's not very easy," he adds.

他补充说:“以前很容易找到摘果工,现在不那么容易了。”

"This spring, we've already seen a large area of asparagus in the Woodbridge area did not get picked, that's a huge loss of income for the farmer and most probably meant we imported asparagus."

“今年春天,我们已经看到伍德布里奇地区的一大片芦笋没有被采摘,这对农民来说是一个巨大的收入损失,很可能意味着我们需要进口芦笋。”

'It's because of Brexit'

“这是因为英国脱欧。”

Emmanuel Ciocanel, from Romania, has been working at the Suffolk farm for 12 years.
He says he enjoys the work and "because I work with family - my brother, my sister, my cousin - we keep coming back here and working".

来自罗马尼亚的伊曼纽尔·乔克内尔已经在萨福克农场工作了12年。他说他喜欢这份工作,“因为我和家人一起工作——我的哥哥、姐姐、表弟——我们一直回到这里工作。”

Mr Ciocanel says he finds other temporary or seasonal work through an agency for the rest of the year, and sometimes returns to Romania.

乔克内尔表示,在一年的剩余时间里,他会通过一家中介找到其他临时或季节性工作,有时会回到罗马尼亚。

He believes there is a lack of fruit pickers "because of Brexit".

他认为,“因为英国脱欧”,才导致了摘果工短缺。

"I have some friends and family in Romania who want to come but because of the paperwork they cannot."

“我在罗马尼亚的一些朋友和家人也想来,但因为手续的关系,他们不能来。”
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Some of his friends have found seasonal work elsewhere because of the ending of free movement and the UK's exit from the EU, he says.

他表示,由于自由流动的终结和英国退出欧盟,他的一些朋友已经在其他地方找到了季节性工作。
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"They were in England, [now] they go to Germany [because] they don't know what will happen after Brexit.

“他们以前在英国,现在去了德国,因为他们不知道脱欧后会发生什么。

"This year we are short of people, which will be more hard for us," he adds.

他补充说:“今年我们缺人,这对我们来说将更加困难。”

DEFRA: Is automation the answer?

英国环境食品和乡村事务部:自动化是答案吗?

A government spokesperson says it acknowledges "the food and farming industry is facing labour challenges and we continue to work with the sector to mitigate them".
It says the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is looking at how it can "support the uptake of automation technologies and reduce horticulture's reliance on seasonal migrant labour".

一位政府发言人表示,政府承认“食品和农业行业正面临劳动力挑战,我们将继续与该行业合作,以缓解这些挑战”。报告称,环境食品和乡村事务部正在研究如何“支持自动化技术的应用,并减少园艺对季节性流动劳动力的依赖”。

"We have given the industry greater certainty by enabling the seasonal workers scheme until the end of 2024, allowing overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to work in the horticulture sector," the spokesman said.

发言人说:“我们将季节性工人计划延长到2024年底,允许海外工人来英国在园林行业工作6个月,这给了该行业更大的确定性。”

'It's easy and convenient'

“这既简单又方便”

Anna Morley is the only English picker on the farm and combines seasonal work with her degree. She is studying veterinary physiotherapy at Writtle College near Chelmsford, Essex.

安娜·莫利是农场里唯一的英国摘果工,她把季节性工作和学位攻读结合在一起。她在埃塞克斯切姆斯福德附近的莱特尔学院学习兽医物理治疗。

"This is my third season but my first picking strawberries - before I was picking raspberries," she says.

她说:“这是我从事采摘工的第三个季度,但却是我第一次采摘草莓——之前我采摘树莓。”

She is "definitely not" as fast the other pickers, who are mostly from Romania, but she is "learning slowly".

她“肯定没有”其他采摘工快,这些采摘工大多来自罗马尼亚,但她在“慢慢地学习”。

Ms Morley says the work on the farm is "pretty good" and she is a rarity as a British fruit picker.

莫利女士说,农场的工作“非常好”,她是罕见的英国本土摘果工。
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"I live very local, it's easy and convenient, I wanted to work outside so it suits me fine," she adds.

她补充说:“我住在当地,这很方便,我想在外面工作,所以很适合我。”
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'In Europe you can work anywhere'

“在欧洲,你可以在任何地方工作”

Bogdan Iosub is the irrigation manager at Lindsey Lodge Farm, and has been there since 2009.

波格丹·约苏布是Lindsey Lodge农场的灌溉管理员,自2009年以来一直在那里工作。

He says "if I'm still here", it means he is enjoys the work.

他说“如果我还在这里”,这意味着他喜欢这份工作。

"I like the system, I don't like to be stressed and it works better for me," he says.

他说:“我喜欢这个体系,我不喜欢有压力,它对我更合适。”

He originally came from Romania to work in Suffolk because "the pay rate was right and the system was right".

他最初从罗马尼亚来到萨福克工作,因为“工资水平和制度都是正确的”。
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"But now, for new people, it's difficult to come here. In Europe you can go anywhere and work anywhere," he says.

“但现在,对新来的人来说,很难来到这里。在欧洲,你可以去任何地方,在任何地方工作。”

Mr Iosub says for Romanians to work in the UK food sector, they need settled or pre-settled status - or a seasonal worker visa.

约苏布表示,如果罗马尼亚人要想在英国食品行业工作,他们需要定居或预先定居身份——或者季节性劳工签证。

"People like to go where it's easy, the pay rate is the same across the EU," he says. "I have family in the Netherlands, it's the same [conditions as the UK].

他表示:“人们喜欢去那些容易去的地方,整个欧盟的薪资水平都是一样的。我有家人在荷兰,那里(的条件)和英国一样。
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"How can I ask someone to come [to the UK] when I don't know the future? I don't know what will happen in two or three years."

“当我不知道未来怎样的时候,我怎么能让别人来(英国)呢?我不知道两三年后会发生什么。”