Invisible workers: Underpaid, exploited and put at risk on Europe’s farms Archived Message
Posted by Ian M on October 10, 2020, 11:01 am, in reply to "HSE loophole allows corps to blame covid outbreaks on communities rather than workplace conditions"
More shocking abuses of migrant workers during covid exposed in new report: ***** https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/17/invisible-workers-underpaid-exploited-and-put-at-risk-on-europe-s-farms They toil away for hours on end, under blazing sunshine or drenching rain, to cultivate and harvest the fruits and vegetables we so easily take for granted. As the coronavirus pandemic swept across Europe, those helping to bring food to our plates suddenly became visible, even hailed as "essential workers". But for the past six decades, the European Union's farming policy has overlooked their labour rights and living conditions. The EU’s common agricultural policy – which accounts for over a third of the bloc's budget – aims to support farm owners and pumps nearly €60 billion into the sector each year. The working conditions of those employed by these farms, however, are not even mentioned in the subsidies scheme. "At the moment we have this crazy situation where we actually have better protection for animals than for some of these workers on our farms," said German Green MEP Daniel Freund. In a joint investigation with Lighthouse Reports, Der Spiegel and Mediapart, Euronews interviewed dozens of farmworkers across the continent, most of them cross-border migrants. They complained of unpaid hours, working under tremendous pressure, with very little water or protection, some fainting and vomiting from the exhaustion. They showed us dire housing conditions and spoke of cases of verbal, physical and even sexual abuse. "We hear that migrants come because it’s hard to recruit, because there’s a labour shortage," says Catherine Laurent, of the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA). "It’s worth asking ourselves: is it hard to recruit because there’s a labour shortage, or because the conditions these workers have to face are such that it’s practically impossible for locals to accept them?"
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