Fieldwork in Piana Del Sele (Province of Salerno, Italy)
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Interna'onal Workshop Migrant Workers in the Agriculture Sector. Trajectories, circularity and rights. A compara've perspec've (Madrid), 3-4 December 2015 Fieldwork in Piana del Sele (Province of Salerno, Italy) Moroccan and Romanian Agricultural Worker's CondiBons in the Italian California Yoan Molinero Gerbeau InsBtute of Economics, Geography and Demography (IEGD) (Spanish NaBonal Research Council, CSIC) Contents 1- TEMPER’s Fieldwork’s objec7ves in Italy 2- Why Piana del Sele? Characteris7cs of the region 3- Fieldwork deployment: opportuni7es, difficul7es, successes and failures 4- Observed dynamics and overall conclusions from the interviews TEMPER’s Fieldwork’s objec'ves in Italy Ø European project, 7th Framework programme, 10 ins7tu7ons in seven different countries. Des7naon countries: Spain, France, Italy and UK Origin Countries: Argen7na, Colombia, Morocco, Senegal, Ukraine y Romania Ø Different Research Areas (students and academics, return migrants, high skilled migrants…) Ø Our research area: Seasonal Migraon flows TEMPER’s Fieldwork’s objec'ves in Italy Ø Aims of our research: - To analyse “seasonal guest workers programs” in the agriculture sector in our des7naon countries (2000-2014) - To evaluate the role of different policy instruments to regulate circularity as a key element in these programs - To analyse the involvement and role of different actors in the programs - Implementaon of these programs: A cri7cal assessment. - Economic crisis and entrance of Romania y the EU - Analyse the i7neraries, labour condi7ons and legal transi7ons of migrants in the agriculture sector TEMPER’s Fieldwork’s objec'ves in Italy Ø Methodology: - Legal & policy analysis ( policy instruments & “mapping the actors” ) - Secondary data analysis: in Italy & countries of origin (fragmented & accessibility & con7nuity) - Publicaons and Reports Ø Selec7on of cases/experiences - In-depth analysis of main cases in two different zones: - One zone in Southern Italy and one zone in Northern Italy - In-depth interviews: 20 Moroccan and 20 Romanian immigrant workers in the agriculture - In-depth interviews: local actors involved in the design and implementaon of “programs” Why Piana del Sele? Characteriscs of the region Ø Naonal Report as part of the comparave report to be sent to the European Commission Ø Contacts with experts Ø Interview with Gennaro Avallone: fieldwork possible with clear opportuni7es Piana del Sele Piana del Sele’s Characteriscs Ø Piana del Sele is one of the most produc7ve agricultural enclaves of Italy, some actors call it “the italian California” (MEDU, 2015). Ø It’s located 80 km south from Naples, it’s a vast territory of 500 square kms crossed by the river “Sele” (MEDU, 2015) Some data: Ø 4.000 agribusinesses (MEDU, 2015) Ø 5.000 hectares of greenhouses (3.000 for arugula produc7on) (MEDU, 2015) Ø Produces almost 60% of fourth range products (ready to go salads) in Italy (CRA, 2009) Ø Mixes Seasonal produc7on (tomato, watermelon, peach, kiwi…) and no seasonal produc7on. (Avallone, 2012) Ø Most of its produc7on is for exportaon (Germany, UK...) and some big companies have a significant presence there. Migrants in Piana del Sele: Ø 1 of 8 Moroccan migrants living in Italy are in the province of Salerno (Mghari, 2010) Ø 50% of registered agricultural workers at INPS (14.000 in 2014) are migrants (MEDU, 2015) Ø MEDU es7mates of migrants in the agriculture of Piana del Sele go from 60% to 80% of total workers (MEDU, 2015) Ø Naonali7es by order of importance: Moroccans, Romanians and Bulgarians (Avallone, 2012) Piana del Sele’s Characteriscs Ø Moroccan migrants mainly live in Santa Cecilia di Eboli, in the aernoon most of them are in the streets chang or drinking tea in a Moroccan bar, not difficult to find them Ø But un7l 2009 a huge number of them (it reached 600) lived in the slum “San Nicola Varco”. The police expulsed all migrants and they were dispersed all around the region. Some of them are now in another slum “ex Apoff” in very bad condions Piana del Sele’s Characteriscs Ø Romanians also live mainly in Santa Cecilia and also Bellizzi. They are not so used to stay in the streets so it’s more difficult to reach them Ø The easiest places to find them were Romanian Food Stores at both places, the one in Bellizzi also had a Romanian restaurant so it’s one of the mee7ng points of the community Fieldwork deployment: Opportuni'es Ø Research already carried by professor Avallone in the last years: contacts already done and trust relaonship with migrants, well knowledge of the region… Ø Fieldwork: Prepared between April and June (with several skype mee7ngs), carried out between July and August 2015 Ø Easy access to Moroccans, two collaborave contacts in different zones: Ø Hassan (not real name): French and Italian speaking, has university studies, reputed member of the Moroccan community in Santa Cecilia di Eboli, works in arugula produc7on. Brought many interviewees and spontaneous interviews happened in the streets because he is a respected member of the Moroccan community Ø Ramadan (not real name): Italian speaking. Lives with other 7 Moroccan migrants in a rural house which is a mee7ng point for the community living in Pagliaronne. He is a bricklayer but his friends all worked in the agriculture Fieldwork deployment: Opportuni'es Ø Strong es with the Moroccan community, they are very “talkave”: in the streets or in the bars they are always willing to tell their lives (at least 1/3 of the interviews were not planned but started with unknown migrants willing to chat) Ø The majority speaks very well Italian or French, just one interview went impossible because of the language. Hassan became our intermediate when people didn’t understand the ques7ons or when we didn’t understand the answers Ø Interviews were carried out always in the aernoon. Even if they worked more than 8 hours and woke up at 4 a.m. nobody refused to be interviewed Ø In the case of Romanians Augus'n (not real name), the owner of Bellizzi’s Romanian store allowed us to ask their clients and do the interviews there Fieldwork deployment: Difficul'es Ø Very few days for the interviews: 18 days Ø Black and grey work is very extended in Piana del Sele so we couldn’t contact migrants via the employers: it made difficult to find Romanian migrants for the interviews Ø We had contacts with the local division of the most important Italian Naonal Trade Union in Agriculture, CGIL-FLAI but they never brought us poten7al interviewees. The same for Caritas, they were carrying their project “Progeo Presidio” also with migrants in the agriculture but didn’t help us very much. Ø Santa Cecilia’s Romanian Store was at the beginning our best op7on to find interviewees (Gennaro carried interviews there in the past) but finally they didn’t cooperate Ø Most of the 7mes Romanians refused to be interviewed Ø Other difficul7es: too much heat, long work journeys (some7mes ending very late) the interviewer must always adapt himself to the daily schedule of workers (we never decide when and where to do the interviews) , some days interviewees didn’t come to the appointments, many hours in the car, 2 very good Romanian contacts failed… Fieldwork deployment: Failures Ø We only interviewed 4 Romanian migrants. 2 more interviews are planned but need to come back and end fieldwork Ø We couldn’t interview women: there are prac7cally no Moroccan women in Piana del Sele (just the wives of those who had a permit and the right for Family Reunificaon, they don’t work in agriculture) and Romanian women are mainly working in the domes7c sector Ø Even if we have evidences of the existence of spontaneous circular migraon (among Romanians) we didn’t find it Dynamics of Migrant Workers in Piana del Sele Ø Mechanisms to impulse circular migraon are not the main routes to sasfy the demands of the agriculture sector in Salerno Ø Main Route to enter in Italy: Irregular for Moroccans, EU naonality for Romanians Ø Integraon in the agriculture sector: Personal Networks or Illegal Intermediaon: Caporalato System Caporalato System in Piana del Sele Ø Access to work in the local structure is mainly (but not exclusively) controlled by private gatekeepers, also known as “caporali” Ø Caporali directly and indirectly link farms and labourers. Ø They organize labour supply demand matching, they are paid by employers and they pay themselves workers. Perfect figure for employers willing to outsource the employment of farmworkers and have cheap, disciplined and ready workers. Ø Caporali offer farmers a workforce supply weakened by its incapacity to access farms in a direct and autonomous way. They earn money from traspor7ng migrants to the workplace andf or the intermediaon services…all extracted from workers salaries. Dynamics in Piana del Sele Ø Couldn’t find circularity: Migrants arrived in irregular ways and remained in Piana del Sele without coming back to their countries un7l they’ve been regularized Ø Seasonal Permit: Used as a way to be regularized in Italy. Migrants already in the place pay employers to issue these permits and become regulars. The objec7ve is to chain contracts and obtain the long stay permit Ø Labour condi7ons: 4€ per hour, journeys of 8 hours most of the days extended to 10h or 12h. Some had contracts (not fully declared by employers to the Social Security) and benefit from berer condi7ons (paid extra hours, holidays…). Others work disconnous day, in general for seasonal produc7on and obtaining work via caporali. Certain stability of those working in greenhouses compared to those working in seasonal produc7on A Different Win-Win Aproach Ø Local Regulaon imposes migrant’s trajectories: The huge amount of workforce already available in the place doesn’t set the basis for circular programmes Ø Win-Win in Piana del Sele: Employers benefit from irregular workforce by paying them low salaries and declaring less working days to obtain more Social Security benefits.