MILTON, England -- Migrant workers from Central Asia hired for seasonal jobs on British farms say they're happy to be in Britain but wish they had more work.
Thousands of laborers from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan came to Britain this year under the U.K. government’s Seasonal Workers Scheme designed to address a severe shortage of farm workers due to Brexit.
The British government has said it will make available up to 40,000 six-month visas for foreign workers this year following warnings by farmers that fruit and vegetables would rot in fields without an overseas labor force.
"Our employers in a farm in Scotland gave us about 30 hours of work in a six-day week, instead of the 48 hours a week we were promised by recruiters before coming to Britain," said a fruit picker from Tajikistan.
"After deducting the cost of accommodation, utilities, national insurance, and food, there is almost nothing left from my wages at the farm. I came here to work and to take money home, but that didn't happen," he said.
Similar complaints have been made by other laborers from Central Asia working in different parts of Britain.
“Nowadays, we are getting a lot of work, fortunately. But in the first several weeks we didn’t have much to do,” said a 27-year-old Uzbek worker at a farm in Milton, Cambridgeshire, England.
“We want more work, we want overtime. During the six months that we’re here we need to earn enough money for our families back home and also to pay off debts...
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