The first flight of about 180 critically important Romanian workers landed at Stansted Airport today.
They will be heading off to pick fruit and vegetables from UK farms in order to keep shops stocked during the coronavirus crisis.
The workers were brought in after Brits failed to answer the call for help.
The group of men and women all wore face masks and gloves as they disembarked at the near-empty airport.
The flight is the first of up to six more to arrive so farms can stay staffed with labourers.
They were taken on buses to a 7,000 hectare farm in East Anglia before the start of picking season and were called in to stop food rotting in the field.
Country Land & Business Association warned farms could be short staffed due to coronavirus travel restrictions, and a call went out for Brits to step up and fill the gaps. Despite the huge spike in unemployment during the lockdown, not enough came forward to fill all vacancies.
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Farmers need about 70,000 seasonal workers to ensure crops are picked throughout the year. The majority of workers come from the EU.
A ‘Feed the Nation’ campaign launched during the coronavirus crisis drew 27,000 applicants but, from those, only about 4,300 have taken the offer of an interview.
Other flights will bring in more workers for farms in the South East and Lincolnshire.
Workers showing signs of Covid-19 are not allowed to travel from Romania.
The flight had to be specially chartered after many airlines, such as EasyJet and Ryanair, suspended services between the UK and eastern Europe, making it difficult for seasonal workers to travel.
GDP in the UK is expected to fall by 35% in the second quarter of this year by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Unemployment is expected to rise to 10% of the working population – around 2,000,000 people.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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