Bulgarian workers/Keelings - read OP (threadbans listed)

Mr. teddywinkles · 16-04-2020 10:36PM

ted1 wrote: »

They are not making hundreds PER DAY. The green houses are like production lines. It’s very straight forward. The pay is no where near what you think it is

Jesus if I was making hundreds a day I'd take it up for a few weeks at least if I'd time. Too busy making less money

Duke of Url · 16-04-2020 10:36PM

mulbot wrote: »

This, from a moderator. Shameful

Thelonious Monk · 16-04-2020 10:37PM

Tenzor07 wrote: »

I agree, however;

Almost no money to be made in vegetable production, labour costs are high in Ireland. Large Supermarket chains like Tesco, Lidl/Aldi have the margins cut to the bone so suppliers get very little per Kg.
We just can't compete on cost with growers in Spain or Netherlands.
Also we'd have a shortage of a large number of veg when out of season so have to import also.

I hear ya, I always try and buy irish veg, and would be happy to pay more for them, but with the cheap imports from abroad it makes the market harder for farmers in Ireland

Donald Trump · 16-04-2020 10:37PM

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I know all that, but a lot more of the land in the east could be growing veg instead of cattle farming

Knock yourself out. There's always land for sale!

Whelo79 · 16-04-2020 10:37PM

statesaver wrote: »

In the middle of a pandemic to fly in Bulgarians is gonna be bad PR for the company. Have the workers been tested for the virus ? What social distancing measures were conducted on the journey from the airport to the site ? Did they travel by bus ? Will the bus driver be tested ? Who will do their shopping ?

This is exactly the issue. I couldn't care less what Keelings done last year or next year. Right now it is highly irresponsible to be bringing these people into the country.

Bob24 · 16-04-2020 10:38PM

quokula wrote: »

The lockdown doesn’t and has never affected people who need to get to work in order to keep the rest of the country fed, regardless of their nationality. I would have thought this goes without saying.

That goes without saying, but for people who are already in the country.

IMO bringing someone from abroad is a very different story for 2 reasons:
1) Given the current travel restrictions (both in and out of the country and within the country), I can see how people are questioning why people need to be brought over from abroad to do the job.
2) Given that unemployment is skyrocketing, I can also see how people would question why some of the people who are already in the country and unemployed can’t do the job.

Now I know the answer will be that it might not be easy to to hire local workers. But IMO it would have been worth trying a bit harder as this doesn’t really give an image of a functioning country (and I am not just questioning the employer here, also the local workforce and the state).

mulbot · 16-04-2020 10:39PM

Beasty wrote: »

They are not a moderator of this forum

Regardless if you have a problem with a post or poster report it and leave the modding to the mods

How is calling a post shameful modding?

Thelonious Monk · 16-04-2020 10:39PM

Donald Trump wrote: »

Knock yourself out. There's always land for sale!

I'm happy enough with my tomatoes and chillies in the greenhouse

Scotty # · 16-04-2020 10:39PM

ted1 wrote: »

They are not making hundreds PER DAY. The green houses are like production lines. It’s very straight forward. The pay is no where near what you think it is

Top earners on 16 euro an hour. https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/greenhill-fruit-farm-wexford-ireland/

I've seen them do it Ted. Working in teams to maximise efficiency. I used to have a great video of two of them picking strawberries at a rate of 6 seconds a punnet. Might be on an old phone, I'll see if I can dig it up tomorrow.

Graham · 16-04-2020 10:40PM

Whelo79 wrote: »

This is exactly the issue. I couldn't care less what Keelings done last year or next year. Right now it is highly irresponsible to be bringing these people into the country.

Goods, food-services and produce still moving across the EU fortunately.

That's probably a good thing for those of us that eat.

Thelonious Monk · 16-04-2020 10:40PM

Whelo79 wrote: »

This is exactly the issue. I couldn't care less what Keelings done last year or next year. Right now it is highly irresponsible to be bringing these people into the country.

In fairness they're not going to be interacting with many people, and they're coming from a country where infection rates are very low. I don't get the uproar over this at all, we're going to need farm workers from abroad as we do every year.

Notdeco · 16-04-2020 10:40PM

Still waters wrote: »

Unemployment for April 2019 was 193000 approximately, i didn't see any outrage last year about the Bulgarians coming over picking fruit even though there was more than enough leeches suckling the states welfare titties to pick enough fruit to last us a lifetime.

The fact of the matter is if we had to pay irish people to do these jobs the price of fruit would rocket, also in any normal year the Margaret cash's of this world and her equals would rather do time in mountjoy than spend their time in gainful employment.
Keelings are dead right to carry on as they were, why fix what isn't broken

So, that's taken as near full employment in every country in the world. Bonus points for name Margaret cash.

Our unemployment rate is extremely higher than now.

Holy ****, brought it back to Margaret cash.

Insane, or a troll?
Move the **** on!

statesaver · 16-04-2020 10:41PM

Graham wrote: »

Better to leave food rot in the fields than risk chatter on Facebook?

Even during a pandemic people see no down side, no increased risk of increasing the spread of the virus, lets fly people into Ireland.

You Sir, are a true Capitalist.

16-04-2020 10:41PM

A company doing the same thing that it has being doing for 20 years and for which employment for this year would have been arranged pre-pandemic -> suddenly they are pariahs.

some amount of gobshytes who came down in the last shower moaning about this.

re CV19 Ireland had more new cases and deaths in 1 day yesterday than Bulgaria has had in total (assuming their numbers and ours are correct)

Scotty # · 16-04-2020 10:41PM

Whelo79 wrote: »

Right now it is highly irresponsible to be bringing these people into the country.

Nonsense. They're essential workers.

Covid19 · 16-04-2020 10:42PM

Either some folks here are trolling, or have no clear understanding of the current crisis. Keelings have dropped the ball here big-time and the individual within the company who thought their business plan would merrily tip along with no effect from the current pandemic is extremely naive.
The optics alone are terrible. As someone who worked in this area, and as a former horticulturalist, you don't need "skilled horticulturalists to pick fruit. It's a simple, mind numbing job in an industry with the largest turnover of staff.
However, you do need an exploitable workforce willing to work for food and board, that's it. Enter the Bulgarians.
One scroll through the glass door reviews into companies in this area in Ireland tells you all you need to know.

One individual here mentioned " they won't pick themselves". Well, apply that logic to the industries currently shut down while complying to, and stepping up to the plate, for the good of the country.
Like the thousands of companies currently unable to trade, if Keelings were unable to sustain their production without flouting the current restrictions and basically giving two fingers to every carer, nurse, doctor etc and any other essential worker, then they should have ceased trading and applied for government support until things got back to normal. Despite what may be contained in future press releases, strawberries are not an essential food.

Tenzor07 · 16-04-2020 10:43PM

Bob24 wrote: »

2) Given that unemployment is skyrocketing, I can also see how people would question why some of the people who are already in the country and unemployed can’t do the job.

Now I know the answer will be that it might not be easy to to hire local workers. But IMO it would have been worth trying a bit harder as this doesn’t really give an image of a functioning country.

We're in a fast changing dynamic situation with this pandemic, no one would have believed the situation we're in now, the contracts for workers would have to have been signed long before the pandemic, or could be part of a large multi-year contract with an agency to provide workers.
To expect a company to locally hire almost 200 workers, interview them, set them up for tax, payroll etc. would have taken months, and fruit picking has to be done quickly and at the right time.

Graham · 16-04-2020 10:43PM

statesaver wrote: »

Even during a pandemic people see no down side, no increased risk of increasing the spread of the virus, lets fly people into Ireland.

You Sir, are a true Capitalist.

Pandemic might kill us.

Starvation definitely will.

Melanchthon · 16-04-2020 10:44PM

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

The times are changing, so many out of work and bored, getting away from home for more than 2km might look very appealing now

I dont get the thing that at the minute locals wouldn't. Never did it myself but didnt it used to be common for Irish young lads to head to Holland to work in agricultural factory jobs in the 90's/early 2000's, and later on loads of Irish ended up doing agricultural work in Oz.
I know in Canada students and so on go to do tree planting too even though its probably tougher work than picking.

Still waters · 16-04-2020 10:45PM

Notdeco wrote: »

So, that's taken as near full employment in every country in the world. Bonus points for name Margaret cash.

Our unemployment rate is extremely higher than now.

Holy ****, brought it back to Margaret cash.

Insane, or a troll?
Move the **** on!

I don't know your real name so i just went with good ole dependable Maggie cash :pac:

howiya · 16-04-2020 10:45PM

I can't go to a funeral in the morning 20km from here but if I want to travel across Europe to pick fruit there's no problem. There's something wrong with that.

Donald Trump · 16-04-2020 10:45PM

Covid19 wrote: »

Either some folks here are trolling, or have no clear understanding of the current crisis. Keelings have dropped the ball here big-time and the individual within the company who thought their business plan would merrily tip along with no effect from the current pandemic is extremely naive.
The optics alone are terrible. As someone who worked in this area, and as a former horticulturalist, you don't need "skilled horticulturalists to pick fruit. It's a simple, mind numbing job in an industry with the largest turnover of staff.
However, you do need an exploitable workforce willing to work for food and board, that's it. Enter the Bulgarians.
One scroll through the glass door reviews into companies in this area in Ireland tells you all you need to know.

One individual here mentioned " they won't pick themselves". Well, apply that logic to the industries currently shut down while complying to, and stepping up to the plate, for the good of the country.
Like the thousands of companies currently unable to trade, if Keelings were unable to sustain their production without flouting the current restrictions and basically giving two fingers to every carer, nurse, doctor etc and any other essential worker, then they should have ceased trading and applied for government support until things got back to normal. Despite what may be contained in future press releases, strawberries are not an essential food.

If you down tools on a building site for a few months you can come back and just pick up where you left off.

Soft fruit will have a short window in which it is ripe for the picking (literally). If you don't pick it then then it is gone.

If you as a consumer buy some that is imported instead, you are importing it from somewhere else that probably hired the same Bulgarians to pick their fruit instead!

Scotty # · 16-04-2020 10:46PM

Covid19 wrote: »

Either some folks here are trolling, or have no clear understanding of the current crisis. ...
Like the thousands of companies currently unable to trade, if Keelings were unable to sustain their production without flouting the current restrictions and basically giving two fingers to every carer, nurse, doctor etc and any other essential worker, then they should have ceased trading and applied for government support until things got back to normal. Despite what may be contained in future press releases, strawberries are not an essential food.

Judging by your name and post count I'd say it's you who's trolling!

The food industry here, whether it be fish, chicken, or strawberries relies heavily on a foreign workforce. The "thousands of companies currently unable to trade" are unable to do so because they are absolutely unnecessary! Unlike the food supply chain.

mulbot · 16-04-2020 10:46PM

Graham wrote: »

Pandemic might kill us.

Starvation definitely will.

From lack of srrawberries?

Zaph · 16-04-2020 10:47PM

Not sure why people are so surprised by this, Germany did exactly the same thing last week. In total, 80,000 workers will be travelling from Romania to Germany to pick fruit and veg over the next few months there. Like those who'll be working in Keelings, these are probably the same people who would have done the work if there has been no lockdown, mainly because it's a job that most locals don't want to do. And if restrictions were lifted in the middle of the harvesting season most Irish people who took picking jobs would bugger off back to their old jobs as quickly as they could, which isn't much use to the producers.

statesaver · 16-04-2020 10:47PM

Graham wrote: »

Pandemic might kill us.

Starvation definitely will.

Well fair play to those Bulgarians coming in, we'd have no food to eat :rolleyes: dying by the hedgerow we'd be.

Fcuk sake.

Donald Trump · 16-04-2020 10:47PM

Melanchthon wrote: »

I dont get the thing that at the minute locals wouldn't. Never did it myself but didnt it used to be common for Irish young lads to head to Holland to work in agricultural factory jobs in the 90's/early 2000's, and later on loads of Irish ended up doing agricultural work in Oz.
I know in Canada students and so on go to do tree planting too even though its probably tougher work than picking.

People will do different work when abroad.

They have the added "adventure" of living there and will work jobs that they wouldn't do at home.

whisky_galore · 16-04-2020 10:48PM

glasso wrote: »

A company doing the same thing that it has being doing for 20 years and for which employment for this year would have been arranged pre-pandemic -> suddenly they are pariahs.

some amount of gobshytes who came down in the last shower moaning about this.

re CV19 Ireland had more new cases and deaths in 1 day yesterday than Bulgaria has had in total (assuming their numbers and ours are correct)

Its funny, it's as if people think this is something new.
How did they think fruit was picked up to now?
By schoolchildren on their hols?
Robots?

mgn · 16-04-2020 10:48PM

Graham wrote: »

Better to leave food rot in the fields than risk chatter on Facebook?

Yes it would be better to let the strawberry's rot in field than to create more clusters of Covid-19. all it takes is one to have the virus in that group.

Scotty # · 16-04-2020 10:48PM

howiya wrote: »

I can't go to a funeral in the morning 20km from here but if I want to travel across Europe to pick fruit there's no problem. There's something wrong with that.

No there isn't!!! One is non-essential travel, the other is not. It's not f'king rocket science!

Bulgarian workers/Keelings - read OP (threadbans listed)

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