Hoteliers fear staffing crisis as Brexit looms
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MORE fears have been raised about the potential impact of Brexit on industries central to the Highland economy.
Hoteliers and farmers have said the potential loss of EU labour once Britain quits could have a huge impact on their respective sectors.
Emmanuel Moine, chairman of Inverness Hotels Association, said the impact is already being felt in his sector, even before the formal process of leaving the EU is triggered, currently expected to happen next week.
"I think the feeling among staff, a lot of whom are of course from eastern Europe, is one of insecurity – they don’t know what is going to happen in the future, whether they will be able to continue working here," he said.
"That has an impact on existing staff of course, but you also wonder what it means for people who might be thinking about coming here. Will they continue to apply for jobs?
"I don’t know a single hotel that doesn’t have problems filling posts just now and I certainly don’t see that getting any easier as time goes on."
Mr Moine is general manager of the Glen Mhor Hotel on the banks of the River Ness and is a Frenchman who took UK citizenship three years ago.
He said he doubted if native Scots could fill the full range of posts European staff might soon be unavailable for.
"Just out of interest I put an advert for a new chef in a French magazine and also on the Gumtree website recently," he said.
"Within 24 hours I had about 35 applications from France and only about three via the website from more locally based people.
"Working in hospitality can be hard – you have to work weekends and often do split shifts as well.
"I like my job and can’t see myself doing anything else, but I understand it’s not for everyone and, where there are other options, people might choose to do something different.
"I think that’s one of the reasons that Scottish people aren’t coming forward in big numbers for these jobs, and with Brexit that’s going to mean real problems in the future."
Mr Moine’s comments echo those made last year by Kingsmills Hotel manager Craig Ewan who said around 25 per cent of his staff at the time were European nationals, and that any restrictions on their ability to work here could see him losing many "talented, hard-working" people.
Inverness economist Tony Mackay has also questioned whether there was enough locally based talent to take over roles currently filled by Europeans, particularly if it meant working for the same rates of pay they receive.
Farming figures also expressed concerns this week about what the loss of European labour could mean for them. Cawdor farmer and Farming North columnist Richard Jones said, as with any business, uncertainty was a major issue.
"Whether it’s raising livestock or growing crops, you really need to know at least roughly two to three years in advance what’s happening so that you can plan effectively," he said.
"At the moment everything is very much up in the air, which is very difficult to cope with."
As part of that he said staffing was a "big issue" and added: "Of course, because of the seasonal nature of farming, casual labour is something that is very much relied on and eastern Europeans in particular have filled a lot of the roles for many years now.
"We know that the nature of that temporary work sometimes makes it difficult for locally based people to take it on, so it is a concern for sure."
Donnie MacLeod, of Ardersier’s MacLeod Organics, said his firm use volunteers recruited through the organisation World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms for much of its work.
He said they were not as reliant on EU labour as some others might be, but added: "I can see that it will be an issue for some operators and the fact is that we do deal with produce from other European farms, so how that will work after Brexit is a concern."
Farmers union representatives had been due to meet UK ministers on Wednesday for talks about Brexit, but their meeting was cancelled due to the terror attack at Westminster.
NFU Scotland say they are continuing to push for greater clarity on what Brexit will mean for the industry, calling the level of detail available so far "frustratingly sparse".
But despite these industry concerns a new survey this week suggests a potential mismatch with the views of the wider public.
The survey by the National Centre for Social Research showed 82 per cent of EU referendum leave voters who took part want potential EU migrants to be treated in the same way as non-EU migrants currently are. Perhaps more surprisingly 58 per cent of those who said they had voted remain felt the same way.
A referendum in June last year saw the majority of voters decide that the UK should leave the EU. The majority of voters in Scotland wanted the UK to remain in the EU. The issue is a topic that could be a factor in moves towards a second independence referendum for Scotland. The UK is set to leave the EU in 2019.
