Citrus production in the Valencian Community in the 2022/2023 campaign, the last for which complete figures are available, amounted to 2,907,509 tonnes, a fruit mainly intended for export, according to data published by the Ministry of Agriculture, which predicts a slight decrease in figures from the last 2023/2024 campaign due to the drought. Every year, around 45,000 people work in the citrus sector, both in pickers (55%) and in warehouses (45%), in a campaign that begins in September (with mandarins) and lasts until the following summer (with the Valencia orange variety).
The profile of the agricultural worker or ‘collidor’ is mainly that of a man between 35 and 50 years old with experience in citrus harvesting. And, although around two thirds are Spanish, every year we see more foreign workers in this sector, coming from different parts of the world: Eastern Europe, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, South America or even Pakistanis. In fact, a few days ago, three Pakistani seasonal workers were killed by a truck whose brakes failed while they were working in a citrus field in the Valencian town of Benifairó de les Valls, in Camp de Morvedre.
The working day of a ‘collidor’ in the countryside lasts between five and six hours a day (depending on the season) and they work from Monday to Saturday. As for wages, there are two modalities: daily, in which temporary workers receive 11.41 euros per hour (between 57 and 65 euros per day, depending on whether they work five or six hours), as established by the collective agreement (12.45 euros in the case of foremen); and “piece work”, in which workers are paid according to the quantity and variety of citrus fruits they collect. Work in the Valencian countryside, as the unions acknowledge, is regularized to a very high percentage: “The control exercised by inspectors, although more would be needed because not everything is achieved, the Civil Guard or the Autonomous Police makes things very difficult. “There are workers without contracts in the countryside, although that does not mean that there are none, especially on small farms.”
The majority of these seasonal workers have permanent-discontinuous contracts and have been working in the field for years: “New hirings are usually made through temporary employment agencies,” explains Delia García of UGT-PV (precisely, this same week, the company GI Group was looking for 350 people to work in the citrus harvesting campaign in the Valencian Community). “It is not because these workers have a contract that the conditions are ideal,” explains Carmen Benavent of CCOO PV, who warns that situations of exploitation still exist, “even sexual.” “It is increasingly difficult to find people to work in the orange industry because people are looking for stability that the countryside does not offer, because the work depends on the countryside and the weather, and young people do not usually last long. “Why can’t agriculture have the same working conditions as in a factory?” he asks.
The profile of the “collidor” has changed with the real estate bubble
The workers who worked in oranges before the brick bubble were Spanish. However, with the real estate boom and the economic conditions offered by construction and services, many of these workers left the field to devote themselves to much more economically productive activities. This situation opened the door to migrant workers who, in recent years, have settled as collectors. With the bursting of the bubble and the crisis of 2007, many workers who had left the sector returned or tried to return to the orange. Currently, the labor market in the Valencian countryside is very stable, with workers who have been harvesting citrus fruits for more than a decade. The new “colliders” are generally migrants looking for a contract and relative job stability. As Enrique Bellés, director of the Agro-Food Cooperatives of the Valencian Community, acknowledges, experienced people are sought to work in the citrus campaign, hence the commitment to the continuity of people campaign after campaign.
Exploitation of migrant labour in the European countryside
An Oxfam report published a few months ago warned of the situation of labour exploitation faced by millions of migrants working in the agricultural sector in the European Union. Specifically, it estimates the percentage of temporary foreign workers in the European field at 26% (2.4 million people out of a total mass of 9.2 million employees). The report warns of wage insecurity and poor health and housing conditions, as well as cases of violence, particularly against women.
