Welcome to the Chain Gang Economy
The U.K. meat processing industry wants to tap the prison system for workers. Welcome to the Chain Gang Economy.
In this story by Zoe Wood, she reports that:
Desperate food manufacturers are pleading with the government to be able to call upon prisoners to solve a labour crisis blamed on the double blow of Brexit and Covid.
WTAF? I don’t know about you but I find this appalling. I’ll explain why in a moment. But it gets worse. Wood goes on to say:
They are also contacting charities for ex-servicemen and women to try to drum up staff.
I can imagine the recruitment pitch to prisoners and ex-offenders:
Up your knife wielding skills with a rehab program at an abattoir. The pay is crap but the life skills acquired will definitely be useful on your next crime spree.
Or for our ex-servicemen and women, how about this catchy advert?
Didn’t pass the SAS knife handling class? No worries - we’ll show you how to deftly fillet the next enemy you bump into.
The good news according to Wood is that the prisoner quotas for such work are already filled in some prisons while the take up from ex-servicemen and women is ‘very low.’ So not only do we have a shortage of workers but we can’t fill the roles anyway. Perhaps some of us will go hungry. That burden usually falls on those in poverty but heh, the upside is that maybe we reduce poverty levels by culling the herd (sic.).
I have no problem with prisoners being offered the opportunity to learn new skills as part of rehabilitation. But is this the type of work they want or need? I’d be surprised if the answer is ‘yes.’
As Wood mentions, the U.K. food supply chain is failing in multiple areas, largely because temporary immigrant workers are no longer welcome to do the jobs that local people can’t or won’t do. That’s a crazy policy making decision.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to work in an abattoir but I do know the pay for long hours is hardly spectacular. Add in the results of some studies which show abattoir workers at risk of mental health problems and you can readily see how unattractive such work might be for the vast majority of people. Check this story as an example of trauma.
So what the meat processing industry wants is for abattoirs to take people who are already vulnerable and put them to work in a crap job with crap pay while at the same time likely increasing the risk of further mental health damage? What an awesome idea!!
One colleague argued history teaches that jobs locals won’t do end up getting automated or filled by migrant workers. As I replied: we don’t have the former and the latter are no longer welcome. In that context we seem to have successfully mimicked our US cousins where there are similar problems across multiple industries.
The flip side is that as consumers we are literally paying the price through declining service and inflated prices at our shops, restaurants, hotels and pubs. But, without a general improvement in pay and/or conditions, the looming crisis in the food supply chain won’t get better.
I hope it doesn’t come to this but if food shortages become widespread then it’s conceivable that people will revolt.
In the meantime I have an iron clad solution. Lock more people up and then put them to work in these crap jobs. If we end up with food riots then there’s your instant workforce. Result! In short, welcome to the Chain Gang Economy.