Seasonal contracts were valid for the workers who were the heads of that agriculture, whose duties include the care of cattle as well as cleaning and repairing the premises
A recent report conducted by Italy’s largest agricultural association Coldiretti, titled “Immigrants and Agriculture in the Tuscany Region”, has revealed that 53 per cent of agricultural firms in Tuscany employ migrant workers, reported SchengenVisaInfo.com. Taking into account the high level of flexibility and availability of immigrants, the demand for labour has also increased.
Seasonal contracts were valid for the workers who were the heads of that agriculture, whose duties include the care of cattle as well as cleaning and repairing the premises.
Currently, around 24,000 migrant workers are employed in the agricultural sector in Tuscany.
In addition, those firms that have employed migrants for longer are more inclined to employ others, where about 85 per cent of the firms have over 11 years of experience. Meanwhile, large firms have the highest percentages of migrant workers, with 50 per cent of firms employing those owning over 21 hectares of land.
A total of 44 per cent of all contracts between Italian firms and migrant workers are between six months and one year. At the same time, 31 per cent of agreements are from three to six months and 11 per cent of all employment are from one to three months, while only eight per cent of contracts last less than one month.
“Coldiretti’s role is, as always, to offer transparency and to enhance the value of what we produce,” the regional President of Coldiretti pointed out in this regard.”
The extracted figures can be explained by the seasonal nature of the work in the fields. However, exceptions include cases where a firm is managed together with migrants who have resided in Italy for a long time.
In this regard, these migrants enjoy the trust of the owners and for this reason, they are given roles that last more than six months. In total, temporary contracts make up 66 per cent of all employment relationships.
Another project called Demetra, which is coordinated by Coldiretti Tuscany, has helped 277 migrants who are victims, or potential victims, of trafficking and exploitation in the agricultural sector. Apart from this, these people have also received information and training for work.
The Demetra project has also introduced a professional matchmaking process between immigrants and approximately 600 agricultural firms through the employment portal called ‘Work in Coldiretti’. “Coldiretti’s role is, as always, to offer transparency and to enhance the value of what we produce,” the regional President of Coldiretti pointed out in this regard. According to him, this was applied to food safety, making it mandatory to indicate on a label where the product comes from.
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