Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on migrant workers in the UK food industry

Hundreds of migrant workers in the UK food industry live in a climate of fear, are poverty stricken, subjected to inhuman conditions and indebted to gangmasters, according to a report published today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

'Experiences of Forced Labour in the UK Food Industry' records a catalogue of abusive practices in the food industry. Researchers spoke to 62 migrant workers. 
Quoting from the report, here are the key points:

• "The most notable and unexpected forced labour practice was the 'underwork scam' – recruiting too many workers and then giving them just enough employment to meet their debt to the gangmaster.
• A significant proportion of interviewees paid fees to come to the UK and secure work, creating indebtedness and dependence.
• Workers were threatened and bullied. Racist or sexist language was sometimes used in the workplace, underpinning a climate of fear. Some employers used fear of dismissal to ensure that workers remained compliant and deferential.
• Productivity targets and workplace surveillance were excessive; workers felt they were treated like machines rather than people and given targets that were often impossible to meet. Informal employment brokers frequently provided workers with tied accommodation, which was often sub-standard; workers thus experienced exploitation at home as well as in the workplace. Losing their job might also mean losing their home.
• It is difficult to say whether the exploitation reported was severe enough to constitute forced labour, but the evidence indicated that employers were infringing many rights.
• Low-wage migrant workers appear especially vulnerable to forced labour, despite most of those interviewed having the right to live and work in the UK. The intensity of work in the food industry, driven by economic pressures throughout the supply chain, contributes to such exploitation."

Seminar on the role of schooling in the integration of 'new' Polish migrants to th UK

Briefing by Paulina Trevena of the University of Southampton who has conducted interviews with 83 adult Poles .... She didn't talk to teachers in schools dealing with populations of migrant children or  migrant children themselves...(so rather a limited remit). ... But recommendations that make sense and match ours and those we've heard elsewhere from people at the coalface....
- 'buddying' systems can be helpful
- information packs for migrant parents would be good, particularly with info about differences in school systems
- involving migrant parents in the school community is important.
And, of course, language support at every turn is essential.
This was at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and part of the COMPAS Breakfast Briefing series which 'present topical,cutting edge research on migration and migration related issues). COMPAS is part of Oxford (University). More on the COMPAS website.

Box art... the possibilities

Have spent today thinking about our new project on worklessness - it relates to all the work we've done on I PACKED THIS MYSELF which deals with migrant workers and local employment (and/or lack of it). Looking at people's experience in areas of high unemployment has been central to this.

How to bring the two together visually - and even practically? The suitcase is a metaphor for history, of course (as we've used it in I PACKED THIS MYSELF, by asking migrant workers what they brought with them to this country). It can also be a metaphor for the future.

Have always been very interested in art in boxes - and came across this - so thought provoking. Immediately want to make a doll house like this....

But I had really been thinking of more traditional box art, as in Mexican shrines to the dead. This one (fairly traditional - love the playing cards and chrysanthemums)...

And this one breaking away into idolatry of that ubiquitous figurehead of Mexican art, Frieda Kahlo. (I wear a Frieda Kahlo pendant myself - given to me by Tessa.)

But then came across a fantastic artist and I cannot believe that I had never heard of him before: Joseph Cornell (1903-72). Now this is really box art.

Background from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/ 

"He had no formal training in art and his most characteristic works are his highly distinctive `boxes'. These are simple boxes, usually glass-fronted, in which he arranged surprising collections of photographs or Victorian bric-à-brac in a way that has been said to combine the formal austerity of Constructivism with the lively fantasy of Surrealism. Like Kurt Schwitters he could create poetry from the commonplace. Unlike Schwitters, however, he was fascinated not by refuse, garbage, and the discarded, but by fragments of once beautiful and precious objects, relying on the Surrealist technique of irrational juxtaposition and on the evocation of nostalgia for his appeal (he befriended several members of the Surrealist movement who settled in the USA during the Second World War). Cornell also painted and made Surrealist films."

Perhaps an interesting link (as far as I PACKED THIS MYSELF) with Schwitters here: he was an artist in exile in the UK during the war years.

The solution to youth unemployment lies in the coffers of big business?

The solution to youth unemployment lies in the coffers of big business | Stewart Lansley

http://gu.com/p/36tta

Just HOW MANY people are unemployed in Cornwall?

What is the unemployment rate in Camborne?And in Cornwall?The question came up this week at our workshops at Torpoint Comunity College and none of us were quite sure of the answer, though we knew that levels were high. Bev Faull, community police officer in charge of the migrant worker beat, said at least 3,000 migrant workers had come into Cornwall since the start of January for seasonal work, mainly daffodils. 

Every day I drive past a farm where a local grower has to recruit hundreds (600)workers from eastern Europe to pick daffodils. He is just down the road from Camborne, where unemployment is high. But he cannot find local pickers to do the work. 

Some statistics from the Camborne Redruth Packet newspaper last Sunday - and the chilling suggestion of a 'lost generation' of young people: 

"Unemployment figures show that the amount of people out of work in Devon and Cornwall has risen sharply over the past year.The number of people out of work and claiming benefits show levels have reached a 16-year high with a record number of people working part-time. Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, leading to fears of a lost generation of young people." Camborne Redruth Packet, 18 March 2012

Review of the day's workshops at Torpoint

Just home - an hour and a half drive north from Camborne to Torpoint. Though the scenery on the approach is lovely, the town itself doesn't seem overly prosperous. There is nowhere to buy a cup of coffee and breakfast except Londis - never a very good sign.
The school is a tough school: the staff talk about racism and and antagonism to foreigners. It's a monocultural area, even there is a lot of movement due to the naval base nearby (a girl in one class had moved 12 times in her life, and she is now 13. So she really understood the experience of moving to start life anew).
The sessions reveal a lack of understanding of the role played by migrant workers and their importance in the local economy.... We had to work hard to define the term and then explain that they were not 'here taking our jobs' and sponging off the state.
I think Inga Riaukaite, who has helped so much on the project and who accompanied us, was quite shaken by the response. It was brilliant, as usual, to have her there to answer questions: she could really explain what it's like. The work was tough, she said, but nothing compared to the emotional strains and the sheer unpleasantness of being taunted for 'not understanding' English - which has happened to her too often, really.
Steve Edser and Bev Faull, Cornwall Community Support Officers working on the migrant worker beat, came too. They were able to put some facts straight and talk about the situations they encountered. They explained that migrant workers could be exploited and gave examples. They also explained how workers often didn't know where to turn for help.
Inga, as she has done in previous workshops, showed everyone what she brought with her when she came to this country to find work: this is at the heart of I Packed This Myself. We asked everyone what they would take if they had to leave home. So many children suggested items given to them by their grandparents (that was interesting).  We handed out small prizes.
Five one-hour sessions during the day - quite a marathon.
We did, I think, open some minds. If we managed to change the mindset of six children in each session that would be quite an achievement.
But at the crux of the matter is an issue that we haven't truly tackled and have not discussed at length up to now: why won't local people do these jobs? Inga asked at one stage how many children in the class would work 15 hour days for the minimum wage. And only one or two hands went up.
The benefits culture is something that we need to look at closely and research how it links with the migrant worker issue.Which brings us, probably, to our next project area: worklessness.

School lunch cakes....

Lunchbreak after four one-hour sessions

Taking questions from the floor

'Migrant workers are taking our jobs...' Quite a high level of prejudice....

What Inga brought in her suitcase....

Photos of home....her degree certificate and a lucky coin...Inga packed these in her suitcase when she came to this country.

Gathering ideas

The team

Inga is back! And Steve Edser and Bev Faull, Police Community Support officers, have joined us to answer difficult questions...

Workshop at Torpoint Community College

Expectations

LinkedIn and 'weak ties'

Financial Times magazine article today on Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is all about networking and work. He has been influenced by sociologist Mark Granovetter and the idea of 'weak ties'.... In other words people on the edge of your social and professional radar screen....he suggests these connections can really help to open up new opportunities. LinkedIn aims to help you connect with them.

A new pastoral

Very interested in different visions of pastoral England since we've been working on I Packed This Myself.
At the David Hockney show at the Royal Academy last night - was stunned by the whirlwind of colour and the excitement with which he re-engages with British landscape (after the California years). Colour and line transform the Yorkshire hills and dale. This is a new way of looking at the world.  Double East Yorkshire 1998 was painted after six months in Yorkshire with a terminally ill friend.

There is a lot of emotion in these paintings.

A few years later, colours become more subdued and traditional. 

Mid Summer East Yorkshire 2004 reminds me of the tapestry created by my local church in Cornwall to mark the millennium. There's a sense of stitching things together to try and make sense of them.

For the church tapestry, women in the congregation each designed a square and sewed them together into a huge wall hanging. Will have to take some pictures this week. That was a vision of rural life at the time, as was this. 

Very notable that there are no figures in any of these landscape paintings.

Thoughts from a couple of years ago on the 'new pastoral'.

The next steps

A workshop at Torpoint College next Thursday on I Packed This Myself with Inga (who worked with us in January) ... looking forward to it, and also to developing our new project which naturally arises from the work with migrant workers.Will be in Cornwall all week. It will be key, of course, to build partnerships - and first and foremost follow up the leads and foundations built with Migration Impacts Funding via Inclusion Cornwall and Cornwall Council. Really would like to meet Inclusion Cornwall and Cornwall Works manager Andrea Gilbert - but she is an extremely busy person. She does have the morning of 17th April free - and we arrange a conference call. At least this is a start.

Worklessness: a definition

I've mentioned the term 'worklessness' to people a few times recently (as I started to hear the word when we embarked on work with migrant workers in Cornwall). It's been surprising to find that it's not a familiar term to anyone outside the employment sector. The word has been buzzing around my mind ever since I first heard it. Here's a definition I found with Google's trusty assistance:

Worklessness is a less familiar term than unemployment to describe those who are economically inactive. The economically inactive are people of working age who are not working, not in full-time education or training and are not actively seeking work.

Source: http://www.idea.gov.uk/

Understanding the Migrant Experience

It's taken me a while to post this up! But click here for the briefing paper including my presentation on I Packed This Myself for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Seminar Series, 'Understanding the migrant experience'. This all took place at Swansea University. 

Crossing the Tamar

Very misty crossing the Tamar. For me, going across the railway bridge was always the real wrenching moment when I 'left home' for Uni, work or whatever. Home, of course, defines who you are. And you are on your own when setting off into the world.

Migrant workers and the WI

On the train back to London after speaking last night to the WI (Women's Institute) in Praze, Cornwall about our work with migrant workers. There is a competition at the meeting (there is every month) themed around my talk: 'What would YOU pack if you had to work abroad?'
There are 11 entries for me to judge. Reading through them now - a tough call, but the best lists include things that are reminders of home.

Natural beauty and child poverty

A rhapsodic sunset in west Cornwall. Know it's a commonplace but find it hard to reconcile this natural beauty with the fact that a few miles away are towns with some of the highest levels of child poverty in the country.

Migrant artists at the Tate

Sunday morning, quite early (1030am) and the Tate Britain is already busy. Crowds of people at the Picasso exhibition. But I found another, much less busy, show more appealing. Migrations: journeys into British Art has some interesting paintings, and statistics. The exhibition shows how migration into this country has influenced British art over the past 500 years. There's quite a big gap - the 19th century! - but otherwise some fascinating insights.

In the 16th century, artists from the Netherlands introduced a new style of portraiture. Here Portrait of an Unknown Lady by Hans Eworth. He - and others - created iconic portraits of celebrities of the day - in other words, royals and the nobility. No one now knows who the unknown lady in this portrait is/was. But her clothes and jewellery show that she is clearly of high status.

Two hundred years later Italy and its classical tradition had a strong hold on holiday choices and painting styles. The Grand Tour - wealthy young Englishmen's equivalent of a Gap Year expedition - was popular and sparked an interest in antiquity and classical art. A new, neoclassical style developed and greatly influenced the development of art in the UK. A VERY interesting statistic (source: Tate Britain): a third of the founding artists of the Royal Academy were migrant artists.
Here, one such artist: Canaletto and his painting of Horseguards Parade (central London). Canaletto, famous of course for his Venetian scenes (often painted for British tourists), lived in London for nine years. Have made a mental note to seek out his house in Beak Street, Soho.

Then there were the Americans, in the late 19th century, who injected the energy and fresh vision of the New World into portraiture, raising eyebrows in some cases. John Singer Sargent's Study of Mme Garnier (an American herself) is a good example of that.

The Tate, in its free leaflet accompanying the exhibition, garners comments from Bonnie Greer (playright (sic) and novelist), Michael Rosen (broadcaster, children's novelist and poet) and Shami Chakrabarti (Director of human rights organisation, Liberty).

"This exhibition interests me because it addresses one of my favourite topics  - 'interculturalism'. People have always migrated, whether it has been to escape persecution or poverty or to exchange ideas. We should get away from the notion of host and migrant. Cultures mix and we should celebrate that." Michael Rosen

I visit Migrations with my son's wise words ringing in my ear: "Of course, Mum, only white middle class people go to that kind of exhibition." And sadly, to judge from the visitors on Sunday morning, he was right.

Inga's Christening

'I Packed This Myself' - the whole heart of the project - lies in the hopes, aspirations, skills and experience that migrant workers bring with them when they come to this country. And how they interact with local communities, and local communities interact with them.
It's always quite poignant when, doing workshops, people volunteer to show rather personal things that reveal their background. Inga has brought this lovely photo of herself as a baby, on her christening day. Her mother is looking glamorous, rather like Inga now. Her brother on the right is less than happy - no longer the centre of attention, perhaps!
Inga's brother works at at Leedstown and I was pleased to see him (albeit briefly) when he dropped Inga off at Truro.
One of the huge pluses of this project has been the unexpected friendships forged, and contacts made.

Inga Riaukaite at the workshop

We show photos, talk about the experience of migrant workers in Cornwall. And, most importantly, Inga talks about her own experience.

Workshops in Truro

It's great to be doing more workshops - especially at Penair School, Truro, where Citizenship teacher Carmel Henry helped us to build up the project and write the Education Pack.
It's especially nice to be back with Inga, who used to work at SEF (Southern England Farms, Leedstown). She has taken a week off and travelled down to Luton for the workshop.
Looking especially svelte as she has a new passion for dance.