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PaulB, I also saw a TV documentary on fruit/veg pickers, on the German TV, about two years ago. In this case, it was a total shambles and mess-up how the local German job-centre and employer (farmer) went about it, and I would say quite unconstitutional. Excuse me if this gets long, I'll try to make it as short as possible.
The eastern European seasonal workers are cherry-picked people who are prepared to work 14 (yes, 14) hours a day for several weeks, for a minimum wage, bending down ALL THE TIME in a green house (or green houses), until the season is over and they return home by train or bus with their wages.
No-one from the German or British NHS makes a check later how these people develope phisycal body complaints when they reach 30 or 35!
So, the local German Arbeitsamt (jobcentre) in an area of Germany tried employing local Germans who had never before done fruit and veg picking.
Yes, they made them work for the same minimum wage 12 hours a day on their hands and knees in green-houses, and of-course they almost all quit after a few days.
Paul, so would I!
This is hideous, and sabotage! And it must be illegal. How on Earth can it be sensible, or legal to send untrained OR trianed people to work in such conditions, 12 hours a day on their hands and knees, when you can't even stand up for a pause without banging your head on the green house roof!
Surely, they could start with four hours a day, Paul, for untrained people sent to do such a hard and strenuous job! And employ more shifts.
May-be a person can slowly build up to six hours a day. But to work in such conditions for 12 hours? If something is worth doing, it's worth planning and doing well, as even the people employed in a German Arbeitsamt seated behind a desk would not dream of working 12 hours a day on their hands and knees!