Sustain member the Food Research Collaboration has a new blogpost by Stephen Devlin, Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation, on why EU migrant workers are essential to the viability of Britain's food industry, from farm to fork. With 11% of the workers in cafes and restaurants, and a whopping 27% of the workers in food manufacturing, coming from the EU, it's a highly topical question.
But if migrant workers are crucial in making sure food makes it to our plates, in return they get a pretty raw deal. In many cases the jobs are back-breaking, badly paid, precarious and even highly exploitative.
The blog (here) argues that we must protect EU workers' rights to stay in the UK -- but that we must also take the opportunity of Brexit to ensure that all food jobs in the UK are non-exploitative, decently paid and well protected.
Sustain campaigns for healthy, fair and planet-friendly food systems. Read more about our work for a better post-Brexit food system here.
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
