Blitz Bureau
Indonesian workers who paid thousands of pounds to travel to Britain and pick fruit at a farm supplying most big supermarkets have been sent home within weeks for not picking fast enough. One of the workers said he had sold his family’s land, as well as his and his parents’ motorbikes, to cover the more than £2,000 cost of coming to Britain in May and was distressed to find himself unemployed with few possessions, according to a report by The Guardian.
The labour exploitation watchdog is investigating allegations that he was one of several workers charged illegal fees of up to £1,100 by an Indonesian organisation claiming it would get them to the UK faster.
In Indonesia the worker earned about £100 a month selling food and said his parents were “very disappointed” as he had sold everything for a shot at helping his family. He said: “I feel confused and mad and angry about this situation. I have no job in Indonesia [and] I’ve spent all my money to come to the UK.”
The Guardian has spoken to four of the dismissed workers and in three cases seen evidence of apparent fee payments to a third party in addition to the more than £1,000 transferred for flights and visas to the licensed recruiters.
Risk of exploitation
The allegations of illegal fees being paid in Indonesia raise questions about the risk of exploitation in the seasonal worker scheme, which allows workers from foreign countries a six-month visa to work on farms but makes them bear all the financial risk.
