My teenage years were spent with the Vietnam war on the telly every night and I'm finding repeatedly reading 'Napalm Death' really quite unsettling. Couldn't they have called themselves Fluffy Kittens or something?
thats what was in the bottom of the stone circle the last few years isn't it? the pee lit the urinal at night.
Where did the Underground Piano Bar get to this year? I gave someone directions only to find that when I finally got up there on Monday morning it was nowhere to be seen! Just some heras and a crew camping sign at the entrance to Dragon Field
Not sure why we gave a few songs by Ed Sheeran a go on iPlayer just now , but bloody hell he really is as boring as we'd thought!!
Glad we weren't asked about the Piano Bar when working, we'd be told by one of our lot at the main Info Point by Williams Green that the PB had moved, but none of had been and none of us knew where it had moved to ...
Sort of past the trees round the back of the Kings Meadow I spose. Probs Dragon Field crew campers fed up of public wandering through and evicted them
I heard it was a bit bigger than usual with an outdoor area. My friend said it had become 'overly sanitised'.
Oh dear: Glastonbury exploits hundreds of EU workers on zero hour contracts by firing them after two days
I think the festival industry sweeps a lot of stuff under the carpet tbh. Not seen anything else quite that bad but the management of various crews and agencies are notoriously awful to their workers
This is disgusting. If there's a hands off agreement then it mirrors the culture and irresponsibility of you know what and where.
appalling way to treat people. I had no idea litter pickers were recruited from outside the festival (or online). Nor that there were so many hundreds of people involved.
I had no idea anyone would travel from europe! mind you the person I know who's done litter picking recently refused to stay on site after the first night and stopped doing it after a week (two years ago). And three years ago the 'ketamine cage' (the bit by the green barn at the top of cockmills) was notorious for bad behaviour. perhaps they stopped recruiting on site. there was less litter this year though.
I know they still recruit people by advertising around site on the Sunday but perhaps this has become subject to diminished reliability So: are they employed by GFEL or by an agency? Same end result obviously but affects whether the festival can try and hide behind ignorance I can't find much more about this story yet. I've found a JustGiving account to support the workers but have no idea of whether its kosher and is hasn't raised any money yet. Anybody have any clues? Seriously unhappy about this
I mean, I appreciate that it's hard to know how much work there will be given weather, attempts to stay on top of litter during the show etc However. As a bare minimum it's out of order to throw people off when they have nowhere to go and have earned minimal funds. The festival knows that it has always relied on the labour of marginalised people to some extent.
Business in exploits workers shocker. To be fair though I get the feeling this is the fault of a contractor rather than directly the festival itself. I've just been looking at "volunteer media assistants" at another festival....... and looking at their T&C's, they are properly taking the piss.
Festivals are a tricky business. What can make you decent money one year can through no fault of your own can bleed millions the next. I know of a couple who bankrupted themselves trying to run one. To mitigate as much risk as possible they do shit like keep the ability to ditch workers at the drop of a hat. It not nice but necessary. What isn't necessary is Glastonbury having no financial issue and ditching people. That was just to increase profits rather than cut losses.
I reckon Glastonbury have paid a firm for the clean up, the company have brought all these people over in the expectation of a muddy one, but due to lack of rain and litter picking during the festival, they haven't been needed and the company have not had them working in the interests of profit.
Litter picking used to be done via oxfam - free ticket, but you have to pick up all the shit afterwards. No idea why that changed.
Oxfam have done gate stewards for the last 25 years - not sure they've ever done litter picking. Recycling crew during the show are volunteers - work until Monday morning. After pick has always been paid afaik, ads placed around site on the Sunday to report to the farm Monday to register. They still did this this year but evidently had also recruited elsewhere before hand. Unsure whether it's a GFEL thing or a contractor here - I'm gonna assume contracted out but don't know for definite. Either way, the festival still has an ethical duty to take an interest of the welfare of workers on the farm and keep a handle on what's going on
There were signs put up on Sunday for extra litter staff, I saw them myself . Actually there is a lot of economic exploitation at the festival - people working arty jobs just for a ticket (which I suppose mirrors the sort of 'work for exposure' culture in the real world), and a lot of bar workers, etc. who turn up expecting a wristband, but are never provided with one (they are expected to sneak about). eta - Obviously these practises are not sanctioned by the festival itself, but they still have a responsibility to keep tabs on what's going on.
