London High Court rules British company exploited chicken workers in modern day slavery case

[Bomber_Harris]

Darrell Houghton and his company secretary, Jackie Judge, sound like absolutely charming people

have any of you scallywags ever had dealings with DJ Houghton Catching Services Ltd?

and what is a 'chicken catcher'?

I've got visions of poorly paid Lithuanians running around a farm yard like Rocky trying to catch very elusive chickens but I'm sure that can't be right?

- Bomber

High Court rules in favour of Lithuanian men modern slavery case and against "worst gangmaster ever"
https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/2019/April-2019/High-Court-rules-chicken-catcher-bosses-exploited

 

[Exfarmer]

Bomber, chickens like all birds, sleep at night, so when the light is low it is very easy to pick them up and place them in the cages for onward transport.
This job can be done me mechanically but certains animal lovers prefer to believe that manual catching is preferable, so most chickens are caught by hand.
Sadly most UK citizens do not really like such dirty work and prefer to sit in fancy offices eaning mega bucks while drinking coffee. Others whose qualifications do not allow them access to such high office, possibly prefer to stay in their beds while collecting the dole.
So this business is conducted by Men and women who flock to our shores to earn what they see as easy money, earning possibly ten times the wages in their own land.

However, for a simple chicken farmer here, there are many hoops to jump through before catching these birds. They have to be sure any staff are fully legal, they have to make sure all staff have holiday pay, sick cover etc . Those sort of things you are obviously well aquainted with employing the number of staff you do.
But to the simple chicken farmerwho requires posssibly 10- 20 catchers once every 8 weeks nothing is easy . Most chicken farms produce crops in cycles of roughly every8 weeksto produce the cheap meat required by Joe Public every day. The margin on each bird is measured in pence per kilo. Each bird being 2-3 kilos. Employing staff in this situation is difficult, very few men are waiting on the street corner as they do in many third world countries. So they use the services of gang masters. These companies have large numbers ofstaff whom they can dispatch to any location at a premium rate for such work. Much of the veg industry and others rely upon to harvest crops as they become fit. They can supply skilled and unskilled staff to cover any number of situations.
However farmers, contractors etc rely upon these gangmasters to cover the legal side, and sadly just like bankers etc there are dishonest gangmasters out there, who prey on men and women with low education from across the third world who do not realise their rights in this country.

 

[kiwi pom]

I think gang masters, labour agencies, whatever you want to call them are a big problem. Its become too easy for businesses to pick up a phone and 'order' as many staff as they want for that day, then turn a blind eye to what may or may not be happening to these workers. Its like they're just another input.
If companies need casual staff they should make more effort to recruit people themselves and actually think about some of the problems casual staff face and perhaps alter the way they do things.
The owners of the farms in the OP should take some responsibility for the workers they use, its ridiculous to suggest they new nothing of how staff were treated.

 

[alex04w]

@Bomber_Harris

2,000 turkeys.

How do you get them from here to the Christmas dinner table, unless someone 'catches' them and puts them in a crate to put on the lorry to take to the factory.

 

[Danllan]

Bomber

Now past irritating, just funny...

 

[Exfarmer]

I think gang masters, labour agencies, whatever you want to call them are a big problem. Its become too easy for businesses to pick up a phone and 'order' as many staff as they want for that day, then turn a blind eye to what may or may not be happening to these workers. Its like they're just another input.
If companies need casual staff they should make more effort to recruit people themselves and actually think about some of the problems casual staff face and perhaps alter the way they do things.
The owners of the farms in the OP should take some responsibility for the workers they use, its ridiculous to suggest they new nothing of how staff were treated.

The problem employers of these part time labourers have is when you need large numbers for perhaps 1, 2, 3 days a seasonpossibly, is firstly recruitment. The UK benefit system works against people taking part time work. It is most likely for the odd day they will lose more in benefits than they earn.
The next is that you need to check each person you take on, even for a day, is legally working in the UK.
This may not be as easy as it sounds, we have had in the past people with apparently correct paperwork, which is a very good forgery. How Exfarmer or anyone else is supposed to know this, he is a simple onion grower after all, yet the penalties are draconian if caught. We also have to make provision for a multitude of issues, such as holiday pay pension etc.
It is worth paying a gangmaster a premium of 30% over the day rate to ensure, you have the right number of keen willing workers on site, on time , each day.
You pay one weekly invoice in the knowledge you are not going to be having HMRC, The Border Force, H&S etc breathing down your neck.
Also this willing workforce will not be made up of the dross of society, who Ate more inclined to proposition you than pull your weeds up!

 

[Bomber_Harris]

thank you @Exfarmer for the explanations and also @alex04w for the photo. I now how understand and appreciate how gathering up thousands of chickens/turkeys/whatever would require a lot of casual labour

that's why I love this site, it's top entertainment and it's also very educational too

and it's free!

if I was the owner of this site I would charge all you scallywags a quid a go

- Bomber

 

[milkloss]

Easy to please eh Bobber?

 

[Bomber_Harris]

Sadly most UK citizens do not really like such dirty work and prefer to sit in fancy offices eaning mega bucks while drinking coffee.

are you having a little dig at the Bomber?

drinking cups of Nespresso cappuccino in a fancy office while earning mega bucks is a dirty business but someone's gotta do it

- Bomber

 

[milkloss]

are you having a little dig at the Bomber?

View attachment 785990


drinking cups of Nespresso cappuccino in a fancy office while earning mega bucks is a dirty business but someone's gotta do it

- Bomber

Sprinkles?

 

[Muck Spreader]

thank you @Exfarmer for the explanations and also @alex04w for the photo. I now how understand and appreciate how gathering up thousands of chickens/turkeys/whatever would require a lot of casual labour

that's why I love this site, it's top entertainment and it's also very educational too

and it's free!

if I was the owner of this site I would charge all you scallywags a quid a go

- Bomber

Don't you go giving @Clive any ideas on how to fleece us poor peasants even more.

 

[caveman]

Sprinkles?

Spaff

 

[7610 super q]

@Bomber_Harris

2,000 turkeys.

How do you get them from here to the Christmas dinner table, unless someone 'catches' them and puts them in a crate to put on the lorry to take to the factory.

View attachment 785926

How do they get to the polling station to vote for Brexit ?

 

[unlacedgecko]

Now past irritating, just funny...

It's the use of the 3rd person that really tickles me.

 

[Exfarmer]

are you having a little dig at the Bomber?

View attachment 785990


drinking cups of Nespresso cappuccino in a fancy office while earning mega bucks is a dirty business but someone's gotta do it

- Bomber

Not at all , my own son would far sooner be sitting in his fancy office in London drinking coffee, rather than helping his poor dad out slaving away in the fields, waving the whip, over a 20 semi called young semi clad ( in the sunshine) East European girls pulling his weeds up.
I really despair of the next generation, but as he says , someone has to earn the money to pay the tax to give us our subsidies
Ps spoke to him about your situation, he said he thought your company cannot be up to much, if it does not run to having it's own barrista's serving coffee to your desk. Sadly there are no jobs going there, as they are transferring to Los Angeles after Brexit

 

[steveR]

Don't you go giving @Clive any ideas on how to fleece us poor peasants even more.

Nah, we would start charging for our content

 

[steveR]

Not at all , my own son would far sooner be sitting in his fancy office in London drinking coffee, rather than helping his poor dad out slaving away in the fields, waving the whip, over a 20 semi called young semi clad ( in the sunshine) East European girls pulling his weeds up.
I really despair of the next generation, but as he says , someone has to earn the money to pay the tax to give us our subsidies
Ps spoke to him about your situation, he said he thought your company cannot be up to much, if it does not run to having it's own barrista's serving coffee to your desk. Sadly there are no jobs going there, as they are transferring to Los Angeles after Brexit

Perks of the job hey Ex....? We all need one somewhere along the line...

Another company shuffling off out of the UK then...? Sprog One works for a bit Civil's outfit and it sounds as if a LOT of work will be outsourced and a lot of the skilled Euro staff will be employed in Europe instead of the UK, post Brexit.

 

[Danllan]

It's the use of the 3rd person that really tickles me.

Indeed, it smacks of narcissism and delusions of grandeur, a bit like 'The Donald', or 'Great Caesar' - although, to be fair, despite his being a definite narcissist, Caesar was pretty great by most contemporary measures.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Indeed, it smacks of narcissism and delusions of grandeur, a bit like 'The Donald', or 'Great Caesar' - although, to be fair, despite his being a definite narcissist, Caesar was pretty great by most contemporary measures.

Yep, he made a really good salad by all accounts.

 

[bobk]

thank you @Exfarmer for the explanations and also @alex04w for the photo. I now how understand and appreciate how gathering up thousands of chickens/turkeys/whatever would require a lot of casual labour

that's why I love this site, it's top entertainment and it's also very educational too

and it's free!

if I was the owner of this site I would charge all you scallywags a quid a go

- Bomber

Remainers are being charged as of tomorrow , what d'ya think @Clive