Glastonbury Festival Michael Eavis Abuses Migrant Workers

www.independent.co.uk...

Glastonbury Festival hired hundreds of workers from across Europe on zero hours contracts and then fired them after just two days . . .

. . . one week after Jeremy Corbyn's high-profile appearance on the festival's Pyramid Stage with organiser Michael Eavis, in which the Labour leader received rapturous applause for saying young people need not "accept low wages and insecurity as just part of life".

Workers had travelled to Somerset from countries including Czech Republic, Spain, Poland and Latvia after being handed zero hours contracts to help with the large-scale clean-up . . .

. . . this year’s good weather, as well as the use of charity workers and on-site litter crews during the festival, meant that there was less rubbish after the event had finished. Up to 600 workers are understood to have now been laid off.

Video footage obtained by The Independent shows the sacked workers asking at least to be fed before they will leave the campsite. In the video, a man understood to be a litter-picking supervisor manhandles workers as they obstruct vehicles in protest, telling them they should be grateful for the two days' work.

The hypocrisy of Michael Eavis doesn't surprise me in the least. In the early eighties I was told the following story.

My friend was one of the litter pickers. His area included the farmhouse and there were no time restrictions for his work. He was quite legitimately on his knees beneath Michael's open dining room window in the evening picking windblown litter out of the flower bed.

Michael was entertaining some of his social equals in the dining room and my friend couldn't help hearing what was said.

Michael told his visitors that he considered the festival goers to be stupid scum, and he even got the stupid scum to pick up their own litter. His guests laughed at his words as snobs do.

My friend was incensed. He stood up, stuck his head in through the open window and told Michael in no uncertain terms what he thought of him. Michael's reaction was to shout, "You are banned from Worthy Farm for life!" As he is legally entitled to do.

Festivals such as Glastonbury are used as distractions to stop rational discourse and prevent real, positive transformative change.

The situation is particularly unfortunate for organisers given Mr Eavis's appearance on stage with Mr Corbyn during the festival.

As well as calling for better treatment of workers, the Labour leader asked whether it is right that "European nationals living in this country" face uncertainty about their future.

"I say they all must stay, and they all must be part of our world, and be part of our community," he said. "Because what festivals, what this festival is about, is about coming together. This festival was envisaged as being for music yes, but also for the environment, and for peace."

Cheryl Roberts, a British woman working on the site, said she was "ashamed" of how the labourers were being treated.

"Corbyn was the headliner of Glastonbury, really, he attracted the largest crowd with his speech,” she said. "So for Glastonbury not to have the decency to feed a group of workers that have travelled thousands of miles to be here, after supporting his speech about immigration and foreign workers… it just reeks of hypocrisy and is quite frankly embarrassing."

There's no surprise here. Glastonbury Festival is a highly polluting event totally dependent on the fossil fuel industry, pouring sewage into local watercourses and filling the festival goers minds with trashy pop music and political lies.

a reply to: Kester

Litter picking a festival site , the shortest of short time work.

The situation is particularly unfortunate for organisers givenMr Eavis's appearance on stage with Mr Corbyn during the festival.

The crux of the story .

I'm sure the workers traveled from Czech Republic, Spain, Poland and Latvia to litter pick Glasto and don't actually already live here.
The story is pure nonsense , a hit piece.

a reply to: Kester

You're busy this week Kester!

Glasto was fun thirty years ago but I got in for free. Its just a huge money making scheme now and I wouldn't bother with it at all.
The bands these days are all just pop groups getting extra exposure to potential new customers.
Did you ever go to the Avon free festival or Trewargy tree fest?
They were much better and seemed to have more of the type of people who had the same free spirit mindset and not just a bunch of trendies going for the image.

There's much better small festies around these days. Kippertonix is a great laugh with some awesome people. Very much more of a DIY feel.
Unfortunately, back problems prevented me going last year (and this probably) because camping with minimal home comforts is too much of a pain. That and I'm getting a bit old for it.

Anyway, Eavis is, indeed, a hypocrite and a money grabber. More than £100 quid for a weekend full of posh kids just doesn't appeal to me. Leave 'em to it.
Corbyns just as bad but don't get me started on him!

Glastonbury survives selling an image of days long gone. I feel sorry for the workers having to clean up that rubbish but personally speaking, I'm not in the least bit surprised.

a reply to: Kester

He's had foreigners litter-picking for at least 20 years. I know because I've worked there myself. One year we were going to stay on and make a few extra quid picking the litter until we saw it. Man, it's a depressing sight knowing the festival is over and all you can see are scores of abandoned tents and garbage blowing across the fields. Security used to go foraging for left behind quality tents and anything valuable: drugs, cash, phones etc.

I met Eavis a few times and he seemed decent enough. More to the point, I met a lot of locals who knew him and they tended to have a good opinion of him. He's caught in the middle of a lot of mixed interests. Rich folk who don't like the annual invasion and small businesses which rely on Glasto. I also chatted with a couple of people who had been there in the early 'kitchen days' before it really took off. He might be telling them all what they want to hear and I like to think he sincerely loved putting the festival on. Making millions off it has been a bonus.

a reply to: Tulpa

I went to Glastonbury by accident. I was living at High Ham and people kept asking me if I was going to Pilton Festival. I had no idea the locals called it Pilton Festival. Thinking it was a little local festival I asked for directions. Next day I set off at the crack of dawn and walked over there.

The first clue that something bigger was happening was when I came across a strange camp at the side of the road. A black ambulance, a very twisted hazel pole with a black flag, and a set of armchairs around a fire. Remember when people used to pick up discarded armchairs and sofas and put them around fires in obscure rural settings? Perhaps they still do but I haven't seen it for years.

In one of the armchairs sat a young man dressed in black. I said hi but he just stared at me silently as if he was not quite sure I was real. I expect he had imbibed some powerful hallucinogen.

That encounter made me a little suspicious something was up. I carried on.

About seven o'clock I came over the hill and saw the festival set out before me. I was stunned. I thought, 'So this is the Glastonbury festival'.

It was a week before the festival was due to start. I came to an entrance and started walking in. An aggressive man with an alsation came rushing out and told me to go up to the main entrance. As I walked further up I came to a hole chainsawed in the hedge. The fence was half finished and a small door was obviously going to be inserted there. I walked through the gap and into the festival.

I was at the festival for a fortnight and it was an education for me. I spent the last few days with the two scavengers who lived in the Kings Meadow.

I was a Stonehenge type, free festivals only, though I didn't spend a lot of time at festivals, I was living the life full time. Benders in the Welsh outback.

a reply to: Kester

I had a funny feeling that your answer would be something along those lines.
Probably some clues in your previous threads. Good reply.
Slightly reminiscent of a Flann O'Brien column, weirdly enough.

Anyway, I won't drift your thread further from the topic but I'll tip my hat on my way.

a reply to: gortex

Scrap on!
www.urbandictionary.com...

to start beef with another individual and to fight right where you are.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Asked whether Mr Corbyn would raise the issue with organisers next time he visits the festival, the spokesman said: "He is happy to raise it right now. "This kind of contract and these kinds of employment conditions are unacceptable."

a reply to: Kester

They were reportedly promised two weeks' paid work but were laid-off after two days because there was less litter than expected

Seems their job had finished , I don't know of any employer that would pay people for doing nothing when the work is done.

As for Corbyn's statement , I'd expect no less from him although I doubt he knows what their contract actually was so it's just a soundbite.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: Kester

They were reportedly promised two weeks' paid work but were laid-off after two days because there was less litter than expected

Seems their job had finished , I don't know of any employer that would pay people for doing nothing when the work is done.

As for Corbyn's statement , I'd expect no less from him although I doubt he knows what their contract actually was so it's just a soundbite.

Thing is, he budgeted for two weeks work. These people had to travel all that way and he got the job he wanted done, just quicker. He could at least have given them a week's money but instead he pocketed the extra profit without a care for the people who actually made it possible for him to hold a festival in the first place.

I've had plenty of jobs where I get paid despite finishing early, because I worked hard at what I was doing.

a reply to: gortex

Legally defensible it may be but this guy says it's the worst treament of litter pickers he's seen.

www.independent.co.uk...

Robin Denton, 53, from South Africa, told The Independent that he had been coming to the festival to help pick up rubbish every year since 1997 and had “never seen the people treated so badly”.

“I’ve seen how things have changed and I think the main problem is the zero hour contract,” he said. “It says ‘if we don’t need you, goodbye’.

“In 1997 Michael Eavis would put £20 in our hands and say ‘thank you for helping us’. Over the years it’s regressed, and this particular year is the worst I’ve seen.

The real abusers are the rich kids who cant be arsed to take their litter home with them (its well known that empty cans and bottles weight up to ten times that of full ones and take up many times the space ...... ) - and even dump their tents and sleeping bags cos its "someone elses problem" and they can just but more next year.

Besides, if they tidied up after them, the cleaners would be out of a job right? So its their social responibility to leave as much mess as they can ......

Sadly, we even see this in remote parts of the Scottish mountains these days

btw what is the difference between "£20 in your hand" and a "zero hours contract"? The one, you get paid for teh work you do and the other you only get paid for the work you do.

Not as if anyone getting a temporary job at Glastonbury was hoping it would lead to full time employment!

a reply to: SprocketUK
a reply to: Kester

Seems the litter is picked up by volunteers so I'm not sure of the validity of the OP article.

But this year the tractors have been free to help a team of volunteers from 15 different countries tidy up Worthy Farm .
www.somersetlive.co.uk...

Seems there is no contract so no payment , probably free food though.

Where is the abuse?. I doubt very much anyone travelled from abroad for 24 hours work at £7 and hour cleaning up litter. Even if they worked for 3 days @ £7 and hour it still wouldn't cover the cost of travel and accomodation. What a crock of #e.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: SprocketUK
a reply to: Kester

Seems the litter is picked up by volunteers so I'm not sure of the validity of the OP article.

But this year the tractors have been free to help a team of volunteers from 15 different countries tidy up Worthy Farm .
www.somersetlive.co.uk...

Seems there is no contract so no payment , probably free food though.

Some of the litter may well be...I can't imagine volunteers being fed up with an early quitting time, can you?

This link would imply not all site workers are volunteers also,
www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk...

a reply to: SprocketUK

Looks like some do it for their ticket.

Working for your ticket
Recyclers/Litter pickers are recruited by the Festival. Initially people who have worked successfully before are approached, thereafter applications are taken from those who get in touch with the Festival. 2017 waiting list now closed to new applicants.
www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk...

a reply to: gortex

That's not the issue. the issue is the 500 odd people who travelled there on the expectation (and promise) of 2 weeks work, then were laid off after 2 days.

Why should the workers, the poorest, shoulder all the risks when Eavis gets all the rewards? He should share it out a bit.
Eavis is rich enough he doesn't need to exploit them in this way.

Typical champagne socialist. grabbing all he can while preaching to everyone else.

A bit like Al Gore and his 30 grand a year electric bill whining about Joe Blow not wanting to pay more for the petrol he needs to go to work.

a reply to: SprocketUK

I've met Eavis as well, at Glasto and also the Pilton party later in September. As you say he budgeted for that work, ripped people off in my opinion, I'd pay the labourers.

originally posted by: InceyWincey
a reply to: SprocketUK

I've met Eavis as well, at Glasto and also the Pilton party later in September. As you say he budgeted for that work, ripped people off in my opinion, I'd pay the labourers.

Guess that's why we aren't the sort of socialists who own a giant farm and go to work in a chauffeur driven Bentley.

a reply to: SprocketUK
Yes. Friendly enough face to face but I wouldn't have dealings with him unless I'd totally sewn the fine print out first.