General Election: Who the hell am I going to vote for???

I hope my posts above do not give the impression I am racist or anti people from abroad. I assure you all this is simply not the case.

In the Vale of Evesham where I live in one of the wee villages we see many workers classed as seasonal workers working very hard indeed in the fields. Many of these people live in what is termed as "Seasonal workers accommodation" Frankly these accommodation are nothing more than wooden huts with only the most basic amenities. They do of course hide them away out of view .
This creates two problems as far as I'm concerned.

Firstly and more importantly these people live like...... Well dogs. The farmers don't care one jot so long they get the land planted attended too and harvested . This is frankly treating fellow human beings and very hard working ones at that with utter contempt. NO person should have to live like this and some are even housed in old shipping containers.

Few are paid more than NMW and most less than that. The way they work says to me they should be paid very well but I'm not the greedy farmer.

The flipside of this is where local people used to work the fields they no longer do. It is a huge misconception that they either wont or dont want to do the work its because they cannot afford too.

Unless of course they start living in these shacks or old shipping containers. This is never going to happen of course .

Every single one of us is entitled to work in a safe environment. Be treated with dignity. Be paid at least a decent "living" wage.

As long as the cheap labour is there this is going to be a dream for many.

I admire most of these hard working people from the EU. My questions and concerns are how many we can continue to house and provide services for. Saturation point in some parts of the country are already reached .

So what is the answer ? Well I haven't a clue any more than I have a clue who I should vote for. Like Ive said early in this thread I very likely wont vote at all as for me they are all the same.....

 

The answer is simple (in my eyes) we should pay a realistic price for food, the supermarkets should by law, treat their suppliers fairly, the farmers should pay a living wage for the food to be picked and then both UK and EU people will apply for those jobs.

Also, there should be laws about minimal living conditions which are strictly unforced, so nobody lives like dogs. Don't expect the Tories to implement this, they are the side of super rich farmers/food producers and see the poor as a stepping stone to avoid getting their feet muddy.

 

The seasonal workers that I see on the farm where I work are mostly young, they do seem to enjoy themselves, earn, what to them is good money, and come back year after year.
The accommodation is basic, but I think they have what they want mostly, after all its summer, nobody expects them to live in those conditions over winter.

At the end of the summer they return home with a good bundle of cash.

Its the kind of thing building workers, from the UK, were doing in the late 70s, in places like Germany, chasing money.

 

I absolutely agree with the above. Unfortunately we in the UK have got used to paying little for the basics.
We that is my wife and I buy all our eggs potatoes fruit and veg and everything we can locally of the farmers where possible and at the farmers markets.
Of course it's not as cheap but it's almost an event when we visit our friends from where we buy. Convenient ? Well no but it's fun even when the collie where we buy our eggs takes great joy in chasing me round the yard..

Sadly we are in the minority group but it won't change...

 

Funnily enough i was saying the other day that everyone wants everything for as cheap as possible and people dont think about the cost behind the item or service and how little someone may be making when selling an item

people seem to forget about the time that goes to into things as well.

 

One thing that puzzles me is why don't the torus say where the cuts are going to happen.
The only place that has not been covered is the money given to those with disabilities..
I understand why some things are kept quiet but this big bone of contention will surely harm them if they keep refusing to say what they plan to do ?
Clegg is saying that the cost of helping disabled is 12 billion and that is the savings they say they will make. With nowhere else to glean this money from it makes folk think..
Makes no odds to me but I wonder why they refuse to say what they plan ..,

 

If you knew what any of then planned to do, you wouldn't vote for them.

They all have massive holes in their manifestos.

 

I reckon now I will be voting Lib Dem again. I will never vote conservative and I don't like a lot of labour's policy's, particularly on zero hour contracts. I wanted to vote greens but they are not standing round here.

It's either Lib Dem, Ukip, Labour, Conservative, a couple of independents and "Cannabis is safer than alcohol", also someone calling themselves "none of the above" a candidate who had a charge of attempted murder brought against him 10 years ago.

Lib dem seems like a safer option. It seems sad that I can't vote for a party I believe in because they aren't standing here. So much for democracy.

 

Dig ? No I know that even on a gardening forum ?

I base my opinions on what I see not what I see on the media. Now we live in a wee village in the vale of Evesham and what I see is almost the entire workforce on the land is from the EU. It is a fact that these jobs and this work used to be done by local people. But now the wages have dropped so much for doing the very arduous work the local folk cannot afford to do it. I heard one chap say that he could afford to do it but it would mean living in the sheds these poor people live in . He said he could simply not afford to pay his rent and feed his family on the extremely poor wages on offer. Result is he is/was better off on the dole.
I find that extremely believable and sad in equal measures.

We had a very interesting thread about who would be willing to pay more for their milk which from memory Yvonne you wrote ? Apologies if incorrect .

What we had with the milk situation where the supermarkets dictate the prices of milk by refusing to pay more is mirrored in this situation. The seller dictates the prices of the fruit and veg and the farmer supply's at that price.

What we are seeing is unparalleled numbers of people entering the UK. Where it was unusual to hear the forieghn voice it is now more usual than not.

I'm very sorry if this makes me sound like I dislike these people but I assure you that is not the case. ! But I do have concerns and its about the numbers not the people.

If we have the housing and much mentioned infrastructure then great but its a fact we do not.

Also consider the 12 billion or so that is to be cut from welfare if the Torys get in again. Its looking very likely that it will fall on those who are disabled as that is the only sector that has not been ruled out.

Why (apart from the obvious) wont they tell us from where these cuts are to be made ?

I'm going to be honest here none of the above means diddly to me. Perhaps I should enjoy cheap fruit and veg along with my cheap milk but then I choose not to buy my milk from supermarkets, My veg eggs and whatever I can locally and not from supermarkets .

But I have these concerns and they wont go away.

 

Surely that provides you with a narrowed point of view then?

 

Sorry, was he convicted of attempted murder?

 

Acquitted

 

I will be honest that my problems with labour is them using terms about we are for the working people and ordinary working people etc

Annoys the hell out of me. Because it creates a them and us mentality and they talk about the top 1% as this group that is all exactly the same. in reality the top 1% includes from gps up to the super super super super super rich, there are vast differences in the wealth and jobs and people within that group.

last time i checked gps are working people along with small and medium business owners who work hard to build up businesses that then provide jobs for others etc

if we were still in the days of the land owners being rich and sitting in big houses and its passed down generations then fair enough

But we are not. lots of people in the top 1% are from working class backgrounds who have either gone and got qualifications and built a career on that or have had no qualifications and slowly built up businesses that become successful. These are working people and ordinary normal working people who have worked hard and sacrificed to get where they are today.

What is so wrong about that?

I feel using devisive language like that the same way UKIP does on other issues doesnt help the problems in the country and only then allienates and demonises people

plus as someone who is all on the side of "working people" banning zero hours contracts is completely ridiculous. Zero hours contracts work for some people and dont for others the same as part time, full time and flexi time work better for different people

if i become well enough to go back into work i would go back on a zero hours contract because my illness is flucuating so that i wouldnt have to do set hours if im having a dip i could say no and then offer to do more hours when im well.

im glad the conservatives got rid of inclusive zero hours contracts because that is wrong no one can live off a zero hours contract if they can only work for that company. that is totally wrong, but having zero hours contracts that are open provide people with more working options to suit their circumstances if they want them and to ban them completely would be wrong.