Farmers: Ministry of Economy has distanced itself from rural realities
Yesterday, December 7, Edīte Strazdiņa, board member of the association "Zemnieku saeima" and head of the KS "Mūsmāju dārzenie", participated in the 14th meeting of the Food Industry Council to discuss and find solutions to several pressing issues, including workforce security.
Edīte Strazdiņa, member of the board of the association “Zemnieku saeima” and head of the cooperative “Mūsmāju dārzeņi”: “The issue that caused the most discussion at the meeting was the shortage of labor in both agricultural and food processing companies. Currently, the shortage of workers in food production has reached a critical level and if the conditions for the import of guest workers are not eased in Latvia in the near future, then there will simply be no one to work. We are confused about the solution offered by the Ministry of Economics, which, in our opinion, is far from reality. The Ministry offers a salary increase and employee training as a solution, not realizing that there is no one left in the countryside to raise salaries and train! A company cannot pay higher wages if an employee only wants to come to work, but is unable to work productively. In order to raise wages, productivity must be increased, which is one of the lowest in Europe. At the same time, a whole group of residents has formed in Latvia who live off various benefits. The benefit cushion is so comfortable that people have no reason to look for work and work.
We believe that the work experience and training of migrant workers should be left to the individual company. It is unacceptable, if our country requires 3 years of experience for a migrant worker for a primitive job, if the company can train the employee in one hour.
"I am truly pleased with the understanding of the Minister of Agriculture, whose position was firm in contrast to other ministries - the situation must be resolved immediately."
PRes_Farmers_The Ministry of Economy has distanced itself from rural reality