In a speech delivered today (June 22), Labour’s leader said his party’s former government had been “too sanguine” about the price of immigration, particularly from the expanded EU.
In some sectors, it had “collided with a labour market that is too often nasty, brutish and short term” and pushed wages up and working conditions down.
Chicken factory
He cited the story of an unnamed chicken factory, which had allegedly employed eastern European workers from a recruitment agency and paid them less than the minimum wage – about £4 an hour.
But Naveed Ahmed, ceo of Goldteam Recruitment, an agency which supplies food and drink manufacturers with workers from India and eastern Europe, warned that imposing restrictions would push inflation higher.
He told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “Food Manufacturers are already suffering from the increasing costs of raw materials. Reducing the pool of available migrant workers will ultimately push up staffing costs, which will have to be passed down the supply chain.”
Miliband said: “We should survey employers and where there are more than 25% of migrant workers – double the average share in the population – Jobcentre Plus should be notified.”
Ahmed argued that migrant workers were needed to fill staff shortages in food manufacturing.
“In many cases indigenous workers feel they’re above doing those minimum wage roles,” he said. “Our clients already have a massive concentration of migrant workers on their permanent workforce and there’s still a staff shortage.”
Earlier this year, former ceo of sector skills council Improve Jack Matthews warned that the UK food and drink sector could face a “real problem” should the foreign labour pool dry up.
Matthews believed the industry was over-reliant on the skills of migrant workers due to a lack of training provided for their UK counterparts. He called on employers to “take control” of their future and utilise the opportunities now available to address the skills shortages.
He told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “The issue of our dependency on migrant labour is still very much there.
Staff problems
“If we maintain that dependency while ensuring access to these workers then that is fine. But if that access dries up, we could have a real problem.”
At R&R Ice Cream, Europe’s largest own-label ice cream manufacturer, overseas nationals account for between 56 and 67% of the workforce. HR director Peter Pickthall said they helped the firm achieve rates of absenteeism and accidents that were much lower than the national average.
He told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “The key thing about migrant workers is that they come to work committed to put in a full week’s work.”
Ahmed said staff retention was also higher: “They tend to stick around more than indigenous workers and move on quickly to better positions through the virtue of their hard work.
“It’s part of the mindset and attitude that drives them: they have come to this country to find a better way of life and realise their dreams.”