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Undercover as a farm worker in Germany: ‘My hands are numb. No one knows when the shift will end’
The Guardian ^ | 18th September 2024 | Sasa Uhlova

Posted on 09/18/2024 4:55:19 AM PDT by Cronos

The organic farm shop is a paradise for wealthy Germans. Behind the scenes, we pick and chop vegetables until we’re on the point of collapse ... they guaranteed work for at least 10 hours a day and that I would be paid €6.20 (£5.27) an hour. I would have to pay the agency a fee of €200 and a one-off sum of €105 for my bed. I would buy and cook my own food. They also told me to bring boots and rubber gloves.

...

The contract I sign on about day three probably corresponds to the German labour code. But I receive two work report sheets. On one I write down the actual hours worked and on the other, the official sheet, I sign those that are recorded: a maximum of 10 hours of work a day, six days a week. I’d already heard about double reporting, but here they present it to me as a matter of course. No one explains what is going on. According to the official record, I might work until 4pm today, and there was no work at all on Sunday.

... One of the worst things about this job is that no one can tell you when the shift will end. “Please understand,” one of the women replied when I ask if we would get Sunday afternoon off, “that there are no working hours, there is no Monday to Friday. Here they just tell you to go to work, and you never know when it’s going to end.”

... Not only is the work physically demanding, but you are on your feet for 14 hours a day.

It’s strange how normal this weird existence seems after a while. Maybe that’s because by the evening, everyone is completely exhausted.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Food
KEYWORDS: agriculture; europe; farmworker; germany; labor; marxistdespotism
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To: small farm girl
IMO LEGAL immigration is worse than illegal immigration. Because the gave you a legal loophole doesn't make it right.

Now, if you were honest about I might respect you. If you said Americans don't like the crumby wages so I undercut them with imported labor and make a killing. Instead you blow smoke up our arses and tell us “how bad and lazy” Americans are. Such BS.

61 posted on 09/18/2024 12:10:32 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va
Going to the ad hominem attack confirms my suspicion you lean left. Unable to answer my legitimate question about what the right wage should be. Also, I work hard, why can't I have a Lexus like others who work a lot less than me? Oh, right, I farm, so am relegated to looking beleaguered in my dirty clothes and old car. It's true, my 2005 Pontiac Vibe identifies as a Lexus 😉
62 posted on 09/18/2024 12:13:15 PM PDT by small farm girl
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To: small farm girl

I lean American worker, I lean MAGA. Wanting Americans to work American jobs does not make me “lean left”.


63 posted on 09/18/2024 12:15:20 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va
What's the wage you suggest please?
H2A workers are not legal or illegal migrants. They may only stay for 7 months with the sponsored work visa, no loopholes to stay forever, no free housing, no school tuition, etc. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about as your "reasoning" does not back up your argument. I think you might just be mad because you're dumb. You are welcome 😀
All kidding aside, I actually am curious why you are so butt hurt about this topic whenever it comes up.
64 posted on 09/18/2024 12:21:00 PM PDT by small farm girl
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To: small farm girl

Hiring these imports helps your bottom line. It does nothing to lower the retail price in any significant way of whatever crap you peddle.


65 posted on 09/18/2024 12:25:05 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

If it puts us on the same page, we have 35 employees, of which 12 come up from Jamaica (the same crew, some for 30 years, some replaced with family members if those who retired), the rest are born in the US citizens. Honestly, we try to hire highschool and college kids, mothers, etc to just pick blueberries, which is tedious at best, but not hard and not back breaking, and we offer to pay 50% of what we charge retail, piecework, all for not. Sigh.


66 posted on 09/18/2024 12:29:17 PM PDT by small farm girl
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To: small farm girl
and we offer to pay 50% of what we charge retail, piecework, all for not. Sigh.

Makes no sense. A bunch of gobbledygook.

67 posted on 09/18/2024 12:30:43 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: small farm girl

PS: Get away from me. You give me the creeps. I need to take a shower.


68 posted on 09/18/2024 12:31:39 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Sirius Lee
"Availability of slaves stifles innovation of robotics."

We may soon find out that the cost of human labor goes down with the increasing cost of energy.
69 posted on 09/18/2024 2:59:45 PM PDT by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

I often wonder how those people can live with themselves?

I mean, if you are stiffing people who aren’t your “people”, then you can at the very least mentally try to justify it (it’s still immoral if one has a sense of morality). But if it is one’s own “people”, then you need to look them in the eye, speak their language and then con them - not even a fig leaf of “mental justification”.


70 posted on 09/18/2024 10:49:30 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: ClearCase_guy

“Throughout history, most economies around the world have essentially been built on top of slavery.”

I don’t think so. The Greek city states and the Roman empire yes, were slave economies. But in the middle ages, the peasants weren’t slaves. Even the serfs had more rights - especially after the plague reduced “supply”.

But this actually supports your point that #2 or #3 is the way forward


71 posted on 09/18/2024 10:51:56 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: BobinIL
We need to make it so a family of 4 can make a comfortable living on 160 acres.

I think most of us don't want to do the hard labor that farmers do

72 posted on 09/18/2024 10:52:37 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: BBB333

Woah, sounds like quite an experience


73 posted on 09/18/2024 10:53:55 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

They can’t say “take this job and stuff it”?


74 posted on 09/18/2024 10:54:57 PM PDT by McGruff (Ask everyone, Are you better off than you were four years ago?)
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To: small farm girl

I think that if there was an offer of

1. assured wages (no one stiffing you out of the wages)
2. no up front fees to agents who might run
3. no dangers crossing the border illegally
4. your money can safely go back home
5. you can see your family.

many people would jump at that offer.

Why would they want to live in the USA at a poverty level, when, for the same amount of money, they could live at a higher level and among family and friends?

Sounds like a win-win


75 posted on 09/18/2024 10:56:20 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: central_va

Nah, central_va_democrat. You’re talking about yerself, eh?


76 posted on 09/19/2024 12:29:24 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: McGruff

The article reads that the workers actually want these jobs.

It is long hours, but looks like better pay than they could get elsewhere.

It m ight be against labor laws, but the ladies seem to get paid on time as promised.


77 posted on 09/19/2024 12:30:40 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: jcon40

Do you have a website? Publish it here for more people to support you.


78 posted on 09/19/2024 12:36:04 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: wildcard_redneck

Really? I thought you said that your parents were from Georgia?

Or was that changed?

Or was it Georgia, USSR?


79 posted on 09/19/2024 12:36:41 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

Cronos the Zeeper has lost his cool. I know why you ar upset, your politics have killed your nation the Ukraine. Up to 40% left the Ukraine in a hurry. Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles. And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn’t go. They ran so fast that the hounds couldn’t catch ‘em. They only slowed down for the Euro welfare bureau..

😎


80 posted on 09/19/2024 6:23:29 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.)
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