He Cordoba countryside This activate a working mechanism for the olive and citrus fruit campaigns – the two strongest – which have not been planned for more than a decade: the the collective agreement at the origin of foreigners. It is a tool created by the central government to provide employment links to immigrants in their country of residence and who come here to work with a circular migration –they return to their nations at the end he contract-.
The expected increase in the olive and orange harvest and the difficulties that the sector had already begun to detect in recruiting national labor have encouraged the agricultural groups in the province (Asaja, UPA, Coag and Agri-food Cooperatives) for request the implementation of this mechanism.
In May, these groups informed the Government Sub-delegation of their interest in using it after twelve years of paralysis. Deputy Government DelegateAna Maria Lopez told ABC yesterday that the process is now in a situation of wait that “the Agrarian groups raise their needs at the Andalusian Employment Service [SAE]”Let them determine how many additional workers they estimate they will need for the olive and citrus campaign. The SAE will indicate the positions occupied by natives and indicate the number of foreigners to be hired. Asaja and Coag indicate that many of the positions they will claim will not be occupied by Spaniards.
THE Head of the Central Executive of Cordoba indicated that once the SAE “estimate labor requirements” existing foreigner, “of the Subdelegation mechanisms will be activated to meet employers’ demands.
Asaja and agri-food cooperatives will need a minimum of 2,000 workers for olive and citrus groves
In Asaja-Cordobaher Secretary General, Rafael Navasprovided more details on this process. This agricultural collective And Agri-food cooperatives filed a request with the SAE in which they demand, according to businessmen associated with the two employers’ associations, “a minimum of 2,000 workers” for the “olive grove, first, and citrus, second” campaigns. He stressed that the specific needs in terms of labor are something “very difficult” to know at present. He added that, for these two thousand positions, “we do not expect many nationals.”
He explained that in season 23/24although marked by the low quantity of fruit to be picked due to the drought, “there were already problems” power have all the necessary work. This is why they initiated the collective agreement mechanism in the first place. Of course, he warned that this involves “a tedious bureaucratic procedure.”
He Secretary General of the UPA in the provinceMiguel Cobos, detailed what laborious what is it process. Employers must apply for the number of workers needed. You must pay by highlighting Which employers need foreign workers? Yeah How many will each of them hire?The employer agrees to pay the worker’s round trip or “to provide decent accommodation in reasonable and affordable economic conditions for these workers.”
They say they have done an investigation and “we believe that around 1,000 or 1,200 agricultural workers” will be necessary in the province “mainly for olive groves and to a lesser extent for citrus fruits”. He shares, like Navas, the difficulty of still calculating concretely the needs in terms of manpower: “We are waiting to see how the weather evolves.”
The UPA claims that workers could arrive from “Mauritania, Senegal or Mali, without excluding Morocco”
“If it rains this month or in Octoberthere will be best olive harvestwhich is the one for which we need workers the most, and no more need for manpower“, reflects Cobos. The difference between the number of jobs requested from the SAE and those occupied by nationals – “Normally, there won’t be many” – will be the number occupied by foreigners. They will look for them in countries with which Spain has agreements to regulate migratory flows or instruments of collaboration in this area.
Cobos suggested that the workers who would arrive could come from “Mauritania, Mali or Senegalwithout throwing away Moroccoan economic option because of geographical proximity. “What happens is that it seems that workers from Senegal, Mali or Senegal have more experience,” he argued.
He added that, For this month, the number of workers must be closed which can be brought, so that it may be consecrated.October to your selection and processing of your papers“, so that “around the November 15 or 20 »When the olive grove campaign begins “in general”, make these foreign employees available.
The lack of national labor and the forecast of increased harvests reactivate contracts originally for foreigners
The sector can take advantage of this 24/25 season, if it does not manage to gather the entire contingent of workers it wants, as test field for lubrication the recovery of this mechanismfacing future campaigns.
THE Provincial Secretary of COAGCarmen Quintero, said that “we are in the phase in which the Businessmen indicate how many workers they will need. This mechanism is activated because there is no [aquí] people willing to work in the field.
Changes in the EU
It’s a factor that Navas and Cobos also highlightwho, moreover, add as another reason the increase in harvests planned for the 24/25 campaigns. “In citrus, last season we were at 180,000 tons and this year it could be around 360,000. In the olive grove, last year 150,000 tons of oil were produced, half of what a good year, and this time we can be around 200,000 if everything goes well climatologically,” reflected Cobos.
About them having passed away twelve years without resorting to collective agreements In origin of foreignersinfluenced, as Navas and Cobos have indicated, the fact that the The previous contingents came from Romaniabut also from Bulgaria and Poland. These countries They eventually entered the EU fully and they were excluded from this contractual mechanism. “There were many contacts with employees from these countries and then they were able to come freely and with this staff we succeeded, but then fewer and fewer people came, because the economy of these countries improved,” said the president of the UPA of Cordoba.
Regarding the fact that it is necessary request foreign labor with the high unemployment levels in the provinceNavas argued that the lack of workers is not something exclusive to the countryside. AND defended the need to achieve “a “very deep reflection” on the management model of the unemployment in Spain. “It is not reasonable for this to happen when the working conditions are more than acceptable, as they are agreed by the unions and employers,” he concluded.
