TEXT 6

NO STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM FOR FRUIT PICKERS

 

1. ______________ is to say that you are not satisfied with something.

2. ______________ is a metal support that helps old or disabled people to move.

3. ______________ is a strong disagreement.

4. ______________ is to shout loudly to show that you are happy about something or somebody.

5. ______________ is a long, transparent polythene cover to protect growing plants, tall enough for people to work inside.

6.  ______________ is an agreement in writing, about work or business.

7. ______________ is someone who moves to another country to work or live.

8. ______________ is when the workers all stop work to show the management that they are not happy about their working conditions.

 

No Strawberries and Cream for Fruit Pickers

 

Val Salisbury walked down her road in the English countryside and went into a giant plastic polytunnel. Inside, lots of people from eastern Europe were picking strawberries. The workers were surprised to see a 69-year-old Englishwoman using a walking frame come in. But when she started pulling the strawberry plants out of the ground, they began to understand that she was angry with the company they worked for.

Mrs Salisbury herself was surprised when the east Europeans clapped and cheered her act of protest against S&A Davies, Europe’s largest strawberry grower. By the time the farm manager had arrived, Mrs Salisbury was very popular. Popular, not just with the local people who don’t want large areas of farmland covered in plastic, but also with the workers from all over eastern Europe who pick fruit for British supermarkets.

“I felt so much better after my protest,” said Mrs Salisbury last weekend. “We don’t need these strawberries and these polytunnels in Herefordshire”.

Every year, at the beginning of summer, at least 5,000 people from eastern Europe arrive in Herefordshire and Worcestershire to pick fruit. This year, two villages, with more than 1,700 people in each, have been built there. Each one has about 400 caravans, football pitches, internet cafes and even saunas. Most local people welcome the fruit-pickers, but some are afraid that the fruit company is treating the migrant workers unfairly to make money out of them. Last weekend, 50 people working in the tunnels were interviewed, and many seemed as angry as Mrs Salisbury. Those who could speak English complained about their conditions, and thought the company was making too much money from their stay.

“In Lithuania I earn 200 pounds a month,” said a policeman from Vilnius. “I thought I could earn more here. It looks like I am not going to. It cost more than I thought to get here; it costs more to live.”

“None of us like strawberry picking,” said a Ukrainian student. “Today I have earned 23 pounds. But I must pay 35 pounds a week to live in a box with three other people. Perhaps I earn 150 pounds in a week, but when I have paid for food, accommodation, tax, everything, maybe I have 70 pounds for a six days. It’s not good”.

“The money is bad,” said a waiter from the CzechRepublic. “We waited days to have work. Last year we heard there was a strike here; perhaps there will be one this year, too. It is like a prison. I have been given a yellow card already. One more and I am sent home.”

The Guardian has seen the contracts S&A Davies gives the east Europeans. The rules and conditions are hard. The workers have to pay 26.25 a week to live four or five in one room. They must pay GBP3 a week for toilets and waste collection, 2.25 for electricity, and 2.75 for leisure facilities, including a TV set, football pitch and disco. For 30, they can get medical and translation advice.

The contracts say that pickers can lose their jobs for eating a single strawberry, for stopping work, for going to the toilet at the side of the field, or for smoking indoors. If their rooms are not “clean and tidy”, the workers can be asked to leave. If they want to invite a visitor to the camp, they must ask permission two days in advance.

“I have never been anywhere like this,” said a Ukrainian housewife. The company said they promised to pay pickers 5.05 an hour when there was work, and extra money if they picked more than a set amount of strawberries. But they said that they could not promise full-time work for everyone at the start of the strawberry season, or in bad weather. “When 3,500 people arrive, it’s hard to give everyone work at the same time.

We reduced the cost of accommodation to .10 when it was raining, two weeks ago,” said Graham Neal, a manager with S&A Davies.

Mr Neal blamed agents in east European countries for sending the wrong kind of workers. “Under the old system, where fixed numbers of students came to do farm work, we could go to an east European university and get excellent people. Now the government says that we must take anyone from the EU. Some countries ... have sent over their unemployed drunks,” he said.

The strange but sad thing is that the east Europeans cannot even afford to buy the fruit they pick. “Yes, we like strawberries but we cannot pay for them,” said a Ukrainian who was buying cheap white bread and margarine in the local supermarket. “The next time you eat one, just think of us in the tunnels.”

 

3. Find the numbers:

1. How many foreign workers come to the strawberry farms every year?

2. How much does the policeman earn at home?

3. How much does the student earn each week?

4. How much rent does she pay?

5. How many people share her room?

6. How much does it cost to see the doctor?

 

4. Vocabulary 1: Find the word

Find words in the article that match the definitions..

1. ______________Hit their hands together, many times, to show that they think something is good

2. ______________A sign or warning (used in football) that you have done something wrong

3. ______________ ______________Things you can use to help you enjoy your free time

4. ______________Made (it) less

5. ______________ Says or thinks that somebody is responsible for something bad

6. ______________ ______________ People who have no work, and drink too much alcohol

7. ______________To have enough money to buy something

 

5. Vocabulary 2: Collocation

See if you can remember the missing propositions.

1. angry ______________ somebody

2. work ______________ somebody

3. complain ______________ something

4. pay ______________ something

5. ______________ advance

6. ______________ the same time

7. the cost ______________ something

8. blame somebody ______________ something

 

6. Word order

Put the words in these sentences in the right order:

1. could / thought / more / I / much / earn / here / I / money

________________________________________________________

2. never / anywhere / have / this / like / been / I

________________________________________________________

3. strawberries / them / like / pay / but / cannot / we / for / we

________________________________________________________

4. time / you / the / one / eat / next

________________________________________________________

5. of / think / us / tunnels / just / the / in

 

7. Discussion

Do you think Mrs Salisbury was right to pull up the strawberry plants? Why / why not?