UK to hire farm workers from Bangladesh

A bit of good news is there for people hoping for labour migration. The United Kingdom, after Italy and South Korea, has initiated processes to hire seasonal agricultural workers from Bangladesh.

To this end, the UK authorities have assigned the UK-based TELPASC Consortium – consisting of Regency Recruit Limited, Ethero Limited and three others – to hire up to 3,750 workers per annum from countries that include Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, according to an official document, a copy of which The Business Standard has obtained.

Workers will be hired for just six months and are subject to a return home at the end of the contract period, it says.

The returnees, however, will get priority as experienced workers to go to the UK again in the following years, said officials of Regency Recruit, which is assigned to look after the Bangladesh side.

"We have the scope to hire some 3,000 workers from Bangladesh per year, but we are not interested in doing so in the first year. The UK authorities have a condition that 97% of workers must return home immediately after the contract. Otherwise our [recruiting] licence may be cancelled. So, we will take risks in phases," Naseem Talukdar, director of Regency Recruit, told The Business Standard.

He added that Regency Recruit is planning to hire fewer than 1,000 workers aged 18 years or above from Bangladesh in 2023, while people experienced in agricultural work will get priority. Naseem Talukdar noted that it is yet to be clarified how local agencies will be engaged in the hiring process.

Each worker will be offered Tk1.50 lakh (£10.42 per hour) per month as a minimum salary. The recruiting firm, however, said the actual income would be significantly higher than the original offering as there will be an opportunity for overtime beyond the regular work of 32 hours per week.

"With overtime, the weekly working hours might be 60-70 hours. In that case, workers will get almost double the minimum salary," Naseem Talukdar added.

The migration cost for each worker would be around Tk2.2 lakh to Tk3 lakh, including airfare, visa application fee and others. They will be working in different fruit and vegetable firms.

When contacted, expatriates' welfare ministry officials said the ministry, on 21 March this year, gave its nod to Regency Recruit to hire workers from Bangladesh. 

The United Kingdom has been looking for agricultural workers from the Asian region since its exit from the European Union — popularly known as Brexit. Its labour shortage intensified further as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. 

According to a 2020 study by the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Sheffield, UK agriculture depends heavily on migrant workers; it needs about 70,000 workers each year.

The United Kingdom recruited 942 Bangladeshi workers in 2022 and 871 in the first three months of this year in different categories, according to government data. As of 2021, approximately 70,000 Bangladeshi nationals were residing in the country and they sent $1560.4 million in remittances to Bangladesh in that calendar year.

Meanwhile, human rights defenders from the UK, Nepal and Bangladesh, in a joint letter to the UK's Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick last week, expressed their concerns about continued abuse associated with seasonal worker recruitments.

They said the recruitments have been failing to meet international standards, as noted in a press release of Fair Square, a human rights advocacy group. 

"With recruitment starting up in Bangladesh, the UK government must urgently use all the levers and tools at its disposal to better protect migrant workers, who we know very well will be vulnerable to exploitative fee-charging and poor treatment in the workplace," C R Abrar, executive director of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit in Bangladesh, said in the letter. 

Andy Hall, a UK-based labour rights activist, told TBS, "If workers need to pay all the costs associated with this recruitment, including return airfares and visa fees, it will neither be international standard nor ethical practice."

When asked about workers' protection, Naseem Talukdar said, "We are concerned about this. We are in touch with the Gangmasters and Labor Abuse Authority, which, on behalf of the UK government, ensures protection for vulnerable and exploited workers."

"Besides, a list of workers will also be sent to the Bangladesh high commission in London. If any worker feels that he is a victim of any kind of exploitation, he can contact the mission via its hotline or email," he added.

When contacted, a foreign ministry official, wishing to remain unnamed, told TBS, "The recruitment of seasonal workers in the agricultural sector of the UK is a great opportunity for Bangladeshis. We will try our best to help workers so that they do not fall victim to any kind of exploitation."

As preliminary registration for 2023 has ended, Regency Recruit is taking pre-registration for 2024. Interested workers are encouraged to apply for overseas employment through the Regency Recruit website (https://www.regencyrecruit.com/sws-application). They will be selected on the basis of employers' needs.