Foreign Farm Workers

For this reason workers unions representing the agricultural sector consider that changes have to be made in order to stamp out abouse of this cheap labour: employment is one thing, exploitation is quite another.

There are 227,000 foreign workers in the agricultural sector apart from those employed in the secondary sector (agr-food industry).

The business sector and workers unions coincide that the the system has to be changed to ensure that employment is properly regulated

Seguridad Social has a separate system for agricultural workers, Sistema Especial Agrario which has 200,000 foreigners signed on., of which 149,353 are men and 50,316 are women. As for where they are employed, Andalucia has 64,149, Murcia 41,432, Cataluñ, 20.651, Valencia, 17,746, Aragón & Castilla-La Mancha have 14.964, although the later has more women workers than male ones.

As for their origin, the EU accounts for 40,872 foreign, farm workers, where as the rest, 158,797 come from Morocco (79,691), Romania (32,746), Senegal (14,891) and Ecuador (7,889).

Furthermore, although many come to Spain with a work contract already under their arms, some are already here, which complicates the employment process. Hiring farm hands directly in their country of origin is the most effective. This kind of employment contract give the said workers a number of months when they can stay in Spain; i.e., during the harvesting season, after which they return to their country of origin until the next picking season.

The problem lies in the number of illegal immigrants already living here, many of whom are exploited by unscrupulous employers. Even honest employers find it tremendously difficult to employ them; hence the need to reform the present immigration system.

(Spain)

Tags: Illegal Immigrants, Migrants, Harvesting Season, European Union, Morocco, Romania, Ecuador, Workers Union, Exploitation, Employed At Point Of Origin, Employers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *