Post by depletedreasons on May 9, 2008 0:26:33 GMT -5
Greece's 'strawberry slaves' expose migrants' plight
Fruit pickers in Nea Manolada, southern Greece, on 28 March. Many migrant farm labourers living in Greece are illegal, desperate for work and subject to exploitation but a nascent migrant workers' movement aims to highlight their plight
Nea Manolada was a quiet village in southern Greece unknown to many until a strike by "strawberry slaves" exposed the dark underbelly of one of the country's key economic sectors. His face burnt by the sun, 34-year-old Ivan looked around nervously as he recounted how hundreds of migrant fruit pickers stood up to their employers last month -- and won, briefly. "Strawberries are particularly difficult to pick," the burly 34-year-old Bulgarian who declined to give his real name told AFP.
"You're squatting down for seven hours, with a break that can be as little as 15 minutes. But the worst thing under those plastic tarpaulins is the heat." He measures his words. Ivan, in Greece for a decade, only became legal last year after Bulgaria joined the EU, but he is mindful of the lot of many migrant pickers -- illegal, desperate for work but subject to exploitation that has long met with an official blind eye.
"It's the definition of modern slavery," said Ilias Ahmed, a member of the communist-affiliated Workers Militant Front (PAME) who has helped create a union for Bangladeshi workers in Greece. The problem is not confined to the strawberry farms on the west coast of the Peloponnese, where farmers are dependent on seasonal labourers, many from abroad. When the strawberry season ends in July, the workers go elsewhere to harvest potatoes, olives, watermelons and more.
But for three days in late April, hundreds of pickers in Nea Manolada staged an improbable strike to demand higher pay. Greek media caught wind and stories on the "strawberry slaves" and the "strawberries of shame" brought inspectors to conduct raids in this farmland corner.
They found entire families from Albania, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece's minority Roma community working in local greenhouses in temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). More than 2,000 seasonal workers are employed in Nea Manolada, a community of only 1,900 which a few years ago hit upon strawberries as a lucrative crop now heavily exported to European Union partners.
Most of the migrants were living in squalor inside makeshift huts made from the same plastic as the greenhouses -- and forced to pay a monthly rent of 60-100 euros (93-156 dollars) to their employers for the privilege. The farmers also own the on-site markets where migrants buy weekly essentials -- which returns even more of their salaries straight back to employers.
"The workers of Nea Manolada are almost all without papers. As such, they have no rights and the farmers can do whatever they want," said Ahmed. Still, some say they're grateful. "In Bulgaria, my wife and daughter would have been prostitutes and I would have been unemployed," one Bulgarian migrant told the Epsilon weekly.
Ahmed's PAME group -- part of the Greek communist party KKE -- got involved when farmers tried to quash the strike, first with threats then hired muscle, according to KKE members. "We were saved by the workers who shielded us from the farmers," Cosmas Alexiou, a KKE unionist and coroner in nearby Pyrgos who was injured in the scuffles, told AFP."I fell to the ground and tried to shield myself from kicks and punches. A police squad car that was there did nothing to interfere."
The balking farmers -- who said they would face financial ruin -- finally backed down at the prospect of produce rotting. They conceded to raise daily salaries from 23 euros to between 25 and 28 -- still short of Greece's legal minimum wage of 30 euros for unskilled labourers. "It's no small gain," said local PAME supervisor Nikos Gontikas. "The strike enabled the workers to begin organising themselves."
Local officials are torn. Mayor Antonis Seretis of nearby Varda said strawberry production has important start-up costs but conceded that the farmers could have handled things better. "They bear responsibility to a great extent because they left salaries stagnant for two to three years, whilst production increased," he said.
An official at the Labour Inspection bureau who asked not to be named told admitted numerous infractions had been found around Greece, but dismissed union and migrants' allegations that exploitation was widespread in the agriculture sector. "We have found cases around the country, but we cannot speak of a mass phenomenon," the official told AFP. Labour Minister Fanny Palli-Petralia, meanwhile, has vowed action.
"This phenomenon shames our country," she told the Eleftheros Typos daily. "Wherever there are confirmed cases of exploitation of human need, businesses will be locked up and those responsible will go to jail." But after tempers cooled in Nea Manolada, the farmers moved first, reportedly kicking out presumed strike ringleaders to avoid further trouble.
"When I went to work (the following day) I was told that I needn't bother to come back," said Ivan. "The same treatment was extended to my family and friends, 15 of us were thrown out in total."
news.sg.msn.com/lifestyle/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1378160
Fruit pickers in Nea Manolada, southern Greece, on 28 March. Many migrant farm labourers living in Greece are illegal, desperate for work and subject to exploitation but a nascent migrant workers' movement aims to highlight their plight
Nea Manolada was a quiet village in southern Greece unknown to many until a strike by "strawberry slaves" exposed the dark underbelly of one of the country's key economic sectors. His face burnt by the sun, 34-year-old Ivan looked around nervously as he recounted how hundreds of migrant fruit pickers stood up to their employers last month -- and won, briefly. "Strawberries are particularly difficult to pick," the burly 34-year-old Bulgarian who declined to give his real name told AFP.
"You're squatting down for seven hours, with a break that can be as little as 15 minutes. But the worst thing under those plastic tarpaulins is the heat." He measures his words. Ivan, in Greece for a decade, only became legal last year after Bulgaria joined the EU, but he is mindful of the lot of many migrant pickers -- illegal, desperate for work but subject to exploitation that has long met with an official blind eye.
"It's the definition of modern slavery," said Ilias Ahmed, a member of the communist-affiliated Workers Militant Front (PAME) who has helped create a union for Bangladeshi workers in Greece. The problem is not confined to the strawberry farms on the west coast of the Peloponnese, where farmers are dependent on seasonal labourers, many from abroad. When the strawberry season ends in July, the workers go elsewhere to harvest potatoes, olives, watermelons and more.
But for three days in late April, hundreds of pickers in Nea Manolada staged an improbable strike to demand higher pay. Greek media caught wind and stories on the "strawberry slaves" and the "strawberries of shame" brought inspectors to conduct raids in this farmland corner.
They found entire families from Albania, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece's minority Roma community working in local greenhouses in temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). More than 2,000 seasonal workers are employed in Nea Manolada, a community of only 1,900 which a few years ago hit upon strawberries as a lucrative crop now heavily exported to European Union partners.
Most of the migrants were living in squalor inside makeshift huts made from the same plastic as the greenhouses -- and forced to pay a monthly rent of 60-100 euros (93-156 dollars) to their employers for the privilege. The farmers also own the on-site markets where migrants buy weekly essentials -- which returns even more of their salaries straight back to employers.
"The workers of Nea Manolada are almost all without papers. As such, they have no rights and the farmers can do whatever they want," said Ahmed. Still, some say they're grateful. "In Bulgaria, my wife and daughter would have been prostitutes and I would have been unemployed," one Bulgarian migrant told the Epsilon weekly.
Ahmed's PAME group -- part of the Greek communist party KKE -- got involved when farmers tried to quash the strike, first with threats then hired muscle, according to KKE members. "We were saved by the workers who shielded us from the farmers," Cosmas Alexiou, a KKE unionist and coroner in nearby Pyrgos who was injured in the scuffles, told AFP."I fell to the ground and tried to shield myself from kicks and punches. A police squad car that was there did nothing to interfere."
The balking farmers -- who said they would face financial ruin -- finally backed down at the prospect of produce rotting. They conceded to raise daily salaries from 23 euros to between 25 and 28 -- still short of Greece's legal minimum wage of 30 euros for unskilled labourers. "It's no small gain," said local PAME supervisor Nikos Gontikas. "The strike enabled the workers to begin organising themselves."
Local officials are torn. Mayor Antonis Seretis of nearby Varda said strawberry production has important start-up costs but conceded that the farmers could have handled things better. "They bear responsibility to a great extent because they left salaries stagnant for two to three years, whilst production increased," he said.
An official at the Labour Inspection bureau who asked not to be named told admitted numerous infractions had been found around Greece, but dismissed union and migrants' allegations that exploitation was widespread in the agriculture sector. "We have found cases around the country, but we cannot speak of a mass phenomenon," the official told AFP. Labour Minister Fanny Palli-Petralia, meanwhile, has vowed action.
"This phenomenon shames our country," she told the Eleftheros Typos daily. "Wherever there are confirmed cases of exploitation of human need, businesses will be locked up and those responsible will go to jail." But after tempers cooled in Nea Manolada, the farmers moved first, reportedly kicking out presumed strike ringleaders to avoid further trouble.
"When I went to work (the following day) I was told that I needn't bother to come back," said Ivan. "The same treatment was extended to my family and friends, 15 of us were thrown out in total."
news.sg.msn.com/lifestyle/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1378160