16.5.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 120/25

1.1

The Commission communication Employment in rural areas: closing the jobs gap  (1) was an important step in preparing the ground for the debate on the employment situation in the agriculture sector, which is a key factor in the creation and safeguarding of jobs in rural areas.

1.2

Agricultural structural change is continuing apace, and will affect hundreds of thousands of workers in the agriculture sector who are set to lose their jobs or see their circumstances changed. However, the communication gives virtually no consideration to one key aspect of agricultural employment — the situation of employed workers, and seasonal and migrant workers in particular.

1.3

That is regrettable, given the Commission's efforts as part of the European Year of Workers' Mobility in 2006. Every year, around 4 million seasonal and part-time workers — including some 2 million migrant workers — attest to the high level of mobility and flexibility in the agriculture sector.

1.4

Seasonal work, particularly in the fruit and vegetable sector, is a structural element of farming that is indispensable to efficient and sustainable land management. Since local workers are often unable to meet the demand for seasonal labour, migrant workers also play their part in the development of European agriculture.

1.5

Healthy food production is a mainstay of our very existence. This also includes fair levels of pay.

1.6

Despite high unemployment in many European regions, calls are being made for additional seasonal workers to be brought in from Belarus, Ukraine and other countries. The EU labour market must be developed in a socially sustainable way. In other words, everyone must have the opportunity to work for a living. That opportunity is compromised by additional cheap labour brought in from non-EU countries.

1.7

The EU's growth objectives can only be achieved through fair competition. Those employed in agriculture must be treated equally in all matters, irrespective of their place of origin.

1.8

The agricultural labour market is highly mobile. This is consistent with Commission objectives. However, mobile workers must not find themselves placed at a disadvantage. Hence social integration must also follow on the heels of political and economic integration. In the short term, the EESC sees a need for action in the following areas:

1.9

The European agriculture sector lacks transparency about the scale of employment and of social standards. This results in distortions of competition. One way of restoring fair competition is to award certificates to farms that meet certain social criteria.

2.1.1

Agricultural work has frequently been the subject of EESC opinions. The debate on migrant and seasonal workers is becoming ever more important both at European level and in many Member States. The three key stakeholders — employer representatives, trade unions and political and/or administrative representatives — have now taken up this issue and are involved in many fields and a range of activities, as illustrated by the following examples:

2.1.2

An observatory for migrant and seasonal work has repeatedly been called for. However, this demand has not been met — despite the fact that a key element in improving the position of workers is the collection, presentation and evaluation of readily understandable data on the agricultural employment situation.

2.2.1

One of the reasons for the halting nature of the debate on seasonal agricultural work is lack of transparency and shortcomings in the way the actual situation on the ground is portrayed. There are still no clear and detailed figures on the scale of agricultural seasonal work.

2.2.2

Across the EU, around 2 million people are employed full-time in the agriculture sector. Some 4 million people are employed as casual workers, some part-time, others on a seasonal basis for periods ranging from just a few days to as much as eight months in the year. Many of those who work on a seasonal basis are migrant workers not employed at their place of residence and often working abroad.

2.2.3

In analysing the employment figures, considerable clarification is needed about the criteria used, for instance, to classify farm size, to establish the particular branch or sector involved, and, in particular, to delimit the scope of horticulture and service-oriented agriculture.

3.1

The opinion is urgently needed for a number of reasons:

4.1

Migrant work is largely the result of the differing standards of living across the European regions. In the long run, migration leads to a shortage of workers — particularly skilled workers — in the countries of origin themselves. In the regions concerned, attempts are being made to counter the worker shortage not by increasing pay or improving educational standards, but rather by hiring workers from even poorer regions — increasingly in future from outside the European Union.

4.2

However, worker shortage is caused by the sometimes difficult and unusual working conditions in the sectors concerned. Migrant workers are simply following the rules of the market. In the free labour market, they migrate to wherever conditions are best for them.

4.3

Migrant work is fraught with problems:

5.1.1

The Committee welcomes the Commission's moves to boost employment in rural areas, including further efforts to promote transparency about the employment situation in the agriculture sector. These include the compilation of statistical data on the employment situation and also the provision to workers of a broad range of information on working and living conditions in the relevant countries.

5.1.2

Agricultural policy to date has focused primarily on the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the products concerned. The working arrangements for those employed in the sector have to a large extent been ignored.

5.1.3

The objectives of the Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies must be further fleshed out. In the ongoing development of sustainable agriculture, due attention must be paid not only to economic and environmental aspects but to the social dimension as well.

5.1.4

The most pressing objective of all stakeholders must be to remove imbalances from the European labour market. That cannot be achieved by bringing more and more cheap labour into Europe from ever more far-flung regions. A key tenet of the ‘European model’ is the emergence of a collective sense of European society. There is no place for ghettos in which migrant workers have to endure poor living and housing conditions with no cultural or social ties to local life around them.

5.1.5

Gender must feature more strongly as a factor in any further studies in this area and in any potential solutions that may result.

5.1.6

The requisite conditions are still not in place. All stakeholders are called upon to play their part.

5.1.7

Migrant workers must be treated on a par with local workers. The Commission must do everything it can to help in this process. A first step is the forging of minimum standards. Such minimum standards are a good starting point for any broad-based discussion of the quality of work.

5.2.1

The EESC welcomes the social partners' efforts to promote in the social dialogue the development of vocational training in the agricultural sector and, in particular, the mutual recognition of occupational skills by the appropriate authorities in the Member States. The European ‘agri-pass’ passport that is being created aims to facilitate the mobility of agricultural workers in Europe. However, the pass should be merely an incentive to secure evidence of qualification and should not lead to workers who do not have it being disadvantaged.

5.2.2

Transparency in professional qualifications can also help improve mobility and give workers more scope to take a job and settle down in other countries. The Committee welcomes the Commission's initiatives to support the social partners by introducing an ‘agri-pass’.

5.2.3

In conjunction with the European Commission and the governments of the Member States concerned, the social partners should draw up and implement schemes to combat illegal employment.

5.3.1

Social security for seasonal workers is a matter of particular concern. Workers employed on a seasonal basis over a number of years must not be worse off, in social security terms, than other workers. In particular, this includes making sure:

5.3.2

Workers should be briefed in their own language about the host country's laws, agreements and practices as regards pay, organisations, social security, taxation, the rules on working conditions, etc., while at the same time the EU should respect the role of the contracting parties and not legislate in areas that are covered by national agreements.

5.4.1

Migrant workers have the right to decent housing in their destination country. A scheme must be developed at European level laying down basic standards for migrant worker housing.

5.5.1

The Committee has, over many years, adopted a large number of opinions calling for sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture not only involves an environmental dimension but also takes in business and social aspects as well. A non-governmental, voluntary certification scheme for fair seasonal work could make competition more equitable. Possible criteria for voluntary certification include:

The purpose of certification is:

5.6.1

In the European farming sector, a large number of useful initiatives and projects are currently under way to boost mobility in agriculture and improve the position of seasonal workers. The Committee would ask the Commission to take steps to evaluate and disseminate examples of good practice.