Spain is the world’s second biggest producer of strawberries, after the United States. One of the most important centres of this crop is the Andalusian province of Huelva which lies in the extreme south-west of the country close to the border with Portugal. Thanks to its climate, the strawberry growing season is very early in Huelva, starting in February and reaching its peak from March to May. This gives the region an almost total monopoly on the European market as all other areas produce later in the year. Around 55.000 workers are employed every year in this one region.
Thirty years ago, the region was poor and the population was obliged to emigrate in search of work either abroad or in other parts of Spain. Strawberry production began twenty years ago and has become a mono-culture with a very high level of productivity (40-45 tonnes per hectare). The type of strawberry grown is not local, but comes from California and the farmers in Huelva have to pay royalties. The area cultivated is constantly increasing. The farmers receive considerable grants from the Andalusian government and also indirect support from the European Union. One of the crucial advantages of this sector is the low cost of labour.
The industry is very well organised with 95% of the enterprises belonging to “Freshuelva†which ensures high marketing efficiency throughout Europe.
In 2001 of the 55.000 workers in the strawberry sector in Huelva, around 10.000 were immigrants, the others being Spanish jornaleros(agricultural day workers). The vast majority of the immigrants were from the Maghreb, most of whom did not have legal permits. Their employment and living conditions were appalling. Many had been coming to Huelva for many years for the strawberry season.
During 2001 undocumented migrants launched a massive campaign throughout Spain demanding their regularisation. This resulted in well over 100.000 migrants receiving a legal status. Among those communities particularly active in this campaign were the Moroccans, Mauritanians, Senegalese and Ecuadorians.
With the assistance of certain Spanish organisations, above all the CGT (small trade union existing throughout Spain), ODITE (organisation defending foreign workers) and the SOC (Andalusian agricultural workers union), the migrant workers in Huelva started to try and improve their situation by calling for residence and work permits. Following a lengthy occupation of a church in Huelva they finally succeeded in obtaining permits which, however, were specifically restricted to the agricultural sector in the province of Huelva. They were not allowed to work elsewhere or in a different economic sector.
In order to obtain these permits they had to prove that they had a promise of employment for the next season. This involved considerable corruption as many agricultural enterprises “sold†such precontratosto Moroccan workers.
Confronted by the high level of organisation of the immigrants in 2001, the Spanish authorities have since sought to encourage labour migration from other countries and in particular central and eastern Europe. Despite having given such restricted permits to over 4000 North African workers for the 2002 season, the government signed agreements with Poland and Romania which resulted in around 6500 Polish and 1000 Romanian workers being recruited for this same harvest with contratos de origen. The vast majority of these workers were women.
The farmers were also reluctant to employ Moroccans with a legal status, as they would be more likely to demand their rights. Already in the past the farmers had sought to avoid employing members of combative Spanish unions of agricultural day workers. The Eastern European women are ideal as they are far more docile and do not protest when obliged to work above the prescribed number of hours. The Spanish authorities would seem to specifically seek young women with considerable economic difficulties but also with family responsibilities as they are more likely to return home after the season.
In order to organise the selection, recruitment and travel of these workers the Spanish government, Freshuelva and the main trade unions (COAG, UGT and Comisiones Obreras)[1] established a commission which opened offices in Poland and Romania.
In Romania the candidates had to fill out a questionnaire and fulfil a series of conditions (medical certificates, absence of a criminal record…). This costs them about half of a monthly salary in Romania. They then presented themselves in very large numbers at recruitment offices organised by COAG and Freshuelva in the Spanish embassy in Bucharest and in certain towns (in offices made available by the Romanian authorities). They generally have to wait about ten hours in a queue for their interview. They then have to wait several days to know whether they have been accepted or not.
The workers receive contracts and the employer pays the two-way ticket, but in many cases retains the return ticket until the end of the season. The contracts are drawn up by COAG, Freshuelva and the two main trade unions (UGT and CCOO). The trade unions explain their involvement by the need to regulate employment in the strawberry sector and thereby protect the rights of the workers. Â
Since 2002 the SOC has been active in the region, particularly with workers from Romania. It has not been able to establish such close relations with Polish labourers. According to the SOC, there were many abuses. The contracts shown by Romanian workers to the SOC were in fact a “T†type solicitud(work application form) made up of a “pre-contract†which should be confirmed once the worker arrives in Spain. This solicitudfixes the level of wages, but not the number of hours. The fact that the contract is in Spanish means that most workers cannot understand the conditions and guarantees laid down in them.
In most cases, the employers keep the contracts and do not give a copy to the workers. In 2003 the SOC’s representative in Huelva was asked to visit eight farms by workers who needed assistance because they were worried about the fact that when they went out to the local town or Huelva they had no papers to show if they were controlled. The employers kept their passports under the pretext that they needed them to establish the contract. They did not, however, give the passports back until the end of the season (along with the return ticket).
Some of the workers explained to the SOC that those who were obliged to return early before the end of the season due to family problems had to buy the return ticket themselves because the employer refused to give them the one that they had brought with them. The fact that employers keep both the passports and return tickets enables them to put constant pressure on the workers and to force them to work longer hours than foreseen in the contract.
Many of the new immigrants had 10% of their salaries deducted to cover accommodation costs, although this was not laid down in the contract. On the other hand, many were not given any lodging at all and had to live in overcrowded apartments.
In 2002 a group of Romanian workers organised a strike with the help of the SOC at an enterprise which is a member of the COAG. As a result the COAG threatened the workers and the SOC that if they continued to hold protests or demand the strict application of the contract they would have to stop recruiting workers from these countries.
In connection with these conflicts the SOC has sought to develop contacts with the Romanian embassy in Spain, but these have been fruitless. The ambassador and consul have generally advised their compatriots to keep quiet and to refrain from making demands in order to avoid creating scandals which could negatively affect the image of their country.
The North African workers found themselves confronted by an absurd situation. At the beginning of the 2002 season they were there waiting for the work to begin. Much to their surprise, they saw thousands of young Polish and Romanian women arrive who began picking strawberries, often for less money than the Moroccans would have received.
This left the Moroccans in a state of total poverty and despair in the streets, without shelter, food or even water. The situation became extremely tense, giving rise to a wave of racism against the Moroccans seen as dirty, unshaved and lazy. 4000 local people demonstrated in Huelva against "civil insecurity". For the first time in Andalusia posters of the extreme right-wing "National Democracy Party" could be widely seen. The arrival of new migrants can cause resentment and tensions among the more traditional immigrant communities who see their status lowered even further.
In fact, the Moroccans also played their part in the strawberry harvest. Desperate for any work and unable to go elsewhere, they stayed in the region. Whenever there was a particularly big harvest, or on Sundays or religious holidays, the employers could turn to this reserve army of labourers whom they paid miserable wages in humiliating conditions. At the end of the season the employers stated with satisfaction that it had been one of the most profitable so far.
Meanwhile, many of the Polish and Romanian women stayed in Spain to work in other fruit and vegetable producing areas and it is said that some ended up in the prostitution business.
The number of Polish and Romanian workers with “contracts of origin†was considerably increased for the 2003 season to around 12,000. There were enough of them to completely replace the North African workers. However, once again many thousand came from the Maghreb, both with and without papers, in the hope of finding employment. They tried to find shelter in huts made out of plastic, palettes and cardboard. These camps were mostly set up in woods far from the town. There was a particularly big camp between Moguer and Lucena.
The employers are well aware of the fact that these workers are far more used to the local conditions and pick strawberries much more quickly. They therefore often fetch some of them on Sundays or in the evenings when there is less likelihood of a visit by work inspectors. This is in fact no new phenomenon in the region. Earlier there used to be a huge camp of Portuguese workers who came to Huelva with the whole family in the hope of being given a few hours or days work now and again.Â
Following its experiences in the last two strawberry seasons the SOC has not been able to establish good relations with the UGT and CCOO. In certain conflicts with employers in which the SOC has defended workers these unions made discreet interventions on behalf of the employers.
In one instance, four Romanians working for FresGonzalez denounced the fact that the employer deducted €2 every day from their wages and also complained about the appalling lodging conditions. Many workers were obliged to share a small building without ventilation or infrastructures (electricity, showers…). The Secretary General of CCOO in Huelva, Santiago Lepe, intervened discreetly in support of the employer and whipped up the media against the SOC. The case went to trial and the court decided in favour of the workers supported by the SOC.
In April 2003 the SOC held a meeting with CCOO to express its alarm with regard to the attitude taken by certain of its delegates. The CCOO clearly admitted that the abuses of clauses laid down in contracts which the SOC had denounced were widespread throughout the strawberry zone in Huelva. They claimed, however, that these were not that serious and only involved the workers losing a few euros.
Many members of the CCOO are unhappy with the attitude of their union. It must be remembered that the strawberry season provides work for 55.000 people. The traditional work force was made up of agricultural labourers (jornaleros) coming from different provinces of Andalusia (Sevilla, Cadiz, Cordoba and Granada) who often went to Huelva with their families. They had no relationship with the CCOO. Most were either members of other unions or had not joined any union.
Recently, with the arrival of increasing numbers of migrant workers, less and less Spanish jornaleroshave come to Huelva. This is also because the region of Huelva has one of the lowest wage rates in Andalusia and Spanish workers increasingly seek employment in other zones or in Andalusia’s booming construction industry.
The CCOO does not have a strong base in Huelva. In fact it plays more the role of an employment agency, acting as an intermediary between the employers and workers coming from elsewhere. In 2002, when the situation in Huelva was very explosive with regard to undocumented workers, the CCOO and UGT did not show solidarity towards migrant workers without papers.
In 2003 the SOC observed some alarming conditions in large farms, such as Pinares del Pilonar, where the employers have many security guards who prevent access to the lodgings of the workers by people who do not work for the enterprise. They close the door at ten at night and workers are unable to enter or leave the building after this time. The employers seem to want to prevent the workers from going for a walk or to have a drink with friends. At the Fresoliva enterprise at Palos the Polish workers have to ask permission from the employer every time they want go out. They have to say at what time they intend to return because the gate is kept constantly locked.Â
At the Costaluz farm, Spanish workers have been thrown out because they had become friends with Polish women migrants. Workers are prevented from going out for a drink or to the cinema. The employer often enters the sleeping quarters of the workers without warning.
It must also be said that the number of marital conflicts and even divorces in the region has considerably increased due to the presence of a large number of young and often attractive women.
The atmosphere was extremely explosive in 2002 and 2003. In 2003 one Moroccan was murdered, three were beaten up while sleeping in Huelva station, while two others suffered burns when petrol was thrown on them and then ignited. In 2002 one worker disappeared without trace and several were beaten up by a group of over 20 Spanish people who attacked the abandoned building in which the migrants were living.
It is to be feared that it will be the same in 2004. There are tensions between the immigrant communities, as African migrants resent the newly arrived workers from Eastern Europe for taking their jobs. Many Spanish people in the region also reject the migrants, above all those from North Africa. The difference between this region and the province of Almeria is that the strawberry season lasts for only three months, whereas the production in Almeria continues for most of the year, thus further increasing the risk of an escalation of tensions.
Huelva update
The evolution described in above continued during the 2004 season. The number of workers coming from Poland and Romania with contratos de origen rose further to a total of 19.800 (7500 in 2002, 12.000 in 2003). They were once again almost all women.
This increase in the number of contracts led to a deterioration in the employment and lodging conditions. According to the contract, travel costs should be covered by the employer, but in most cases workers only received a part of the costs, or even none at all. In some cases, workers were forced to borrow around 300 euros for the trip at interest rates of 15%, resulting in high debts.
Employers continued to rarely pay the full wages and to oblige the workers to do extra time for no extra pay. Officially the hourly wage was 7 euros, but it was often less than 5 euros. Lodging should be provided by the employer free of charge, but in many cases a sum was deducted from the wages to cover lodging costs.
Perhaps the most important development was that it has become common practice for Romanian and Polish contract workers to be given work for only 18 or 20 hours a week (and to be paid only for this time), which is totally contrary to the provisions of the contract. In fact, it would seem that there is a deliberate policy to ensure an over-supply of labour, with the employers turning not only to the contract workers, but also to undocumented and legally residing North Africans, Spanish agricultural day labourers, depending on the level of orders and growing conditions.
This obviously ensures that all of the workers become desperate for a few additional hours employment and remain docile for fear of losing out altogether.
Nicholas Bell (nicholas.bell@gmx.net)
Sources:
Maria Garcia Bueno and Jorge Garcia, Sindicato de Obreros del Campo
Decio Machado, ODITE
[1] COAG is a federation of farmers unions throughout Spain; UGT is a workers trade union traditionally close to the Socialist Party, while the CCOO is closer to the Communist Party.Â
