Every summer, many precarious workers, young or old, French or foreign,
join farms to carry out seasonal work. Farm bosses, often small farmerswho produce "good, organic and local", use and very often abuse this
cheap and forced labour force. Often, they take advantage of the fact
that these workers are in a situation of economic fragility, or that
they are unaware of their basic rights, to exploit them shamelessly:
unpaid wages or wages lower than what is due, long working hours,
non-compliance with mandatory rest periods, unsanitary housing, etc.
For several years, our anarco-union CNT-AIT has been contacted by
seasonal workers who have been victims of dishonest bosses. But they
contacted us after the season. It was then too late to intervene. The
bosses know full well that there is no point in taking a case to the
industrial tribunal, which in the best case scenario will end in a year
or two, with lawyers' fees that will be higher than the damages, which
are in the order of a few hundred euros when it comes to unpaid overtime
over a week of work. Therefore, it seemed to us that it was necessary to
inform seasonal workers of their rights BEFORE the season, so that they
are vigilant and that this is done from the beginning of the season. And
also to inform them that they can strike if the boss does not want to
hear anything: for seasonal workers, striking is a strength: anything
that disrupts the harvest schedule makes agricultural bosses lose a lot
of money too, it is a very powerful means of pressure in favor of
workers to gain respect[1]
This year, we have therefore decided to do anarcho-union prevention: to
produce a guide to the basic rights of seasonal workers. The guide had
to fit on a double-sided A4 sheet, to be easy to photocopy and
distribute, easy to carry in your pocket and sufficiently discreet.
Companions, themselves former seasonal workers or with experience in
labor law, collected regulatory information. They also drew on our
experiences of support from past years to determine the essential points
to address. Sympathizers, labor inspectors, reread the document to check
that it was reliable. We also shared it with the companions of the
Eco-Seasonal[2], a self-managed collective that runs a website to
support seasonal workers in France, to receive their opinions and
comments. As there are many seasonal workers of foreign origin, we
translated it into Spanish, with the help of the companions of the
Eco-Seasonal and also the Spanish CNT-AIT. An African undocumented
sympathizer helped us translate it into Arabic. We then distributed this
guide and its translated versions on our website, on social networks and
online discussion forums, but also at markets in rural areas, for
example during a press table held during our summer camping in southern
Aveyron. Supporters asked us to receive printed copies to distribute
them around them. A seasonal worker whom we had helped in the past wrote
to us: "Thank you for the work of producing this guide, I will
distribute it. I am going to France in August to work in the south, for
the fruit harvest and then the pruning of fruit trees". The companions
of the Spanish CNT-AIT took charge of distributing it in Spain.
You too can contribute to distributing these guides around you. You can
download them to print (French version:
https://cnt-ait.info/2024/07/09/tta-fr; Spanish version:
https://cnt-ait.info/2024/07/09/tta-es; Arabic version:
https://cnt-ait.info/2024/08/01/tta-ar) We can also send you copies by
post (write to CNT-AIT 7 rue St Rémésy 31000 TOULOUSE).
Against exploitation and for solidarity between workers, there is no
small gesture, the cooperation and mutual aid of each individual is
transformed into collective strength.
https://cntaittoulouse.lautre.net/spip.php?article1407
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A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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