Migrants, mainly women, and many of them mothers. Workers in rural Murcia have been called for a new strike after months of labor conflict within the company Tecno Agricola Space, SLdedicated to “wholesale of fruits and vegetables of all kinds”. The company, with headquarters in Ribarroja del Turia, Valencia, also has facilities in the municipality of Dolores de Pacheco, belonging to the Murcian municipality of Torre Pacheco. It was in this city that last July a wave of racist hatred and violence against migrants was unleashed after the beatings that a young man of Moroccan origin – currently on provisional release for these events – inflicted on a 68-year-old resident of the city.
It is precisely the workers, and especially the workers, linked to the Pachequera branch who promoted the call for the strike, which will begin this Friday and will be for an indefinite period. They do so after the company “repeatedly refused to open a negotiation process” over working conditions.
From the strike committee, they denounce “irregularities in the nature of contracts, non-compliance with the appeals of dismissed permanent workers, shortcomings in safety and hygiene and salary inequalities”. In addition, they express their rejection of the company’s productive reorganization which, according to worker spokespersons, “has a negative impact on the workforce.”
“This is not an impromptu decision, but rather a last resort after months without being heard,” say sources from the strike committee. “The workers are simply asking that the law be respected and that the rights that already exist on paper be recognized,” they add.
Workers in the dark after twenty years in the company
In 2007, Zahra started working as a permanent employee at Espace Tecno Agrícola, SL. His task, which was carried out in the company’s warehouses, consisted of packaging vegetables harvested in the fields for a salary of 8.40 euros per hour. He says that, until 2022, coinciding with the labor reform that consolidated the discontinuous fixed contract as the main tool to cover seasonal and intermittent jobs, they had work “all year round, with the exception of one month of vacation.” But everything changed at the start of this decade. The company decided that the same workers who picked would also be responsible for preparing, packing and packaging agricultural produce on the farm itself. This led to a reduction in the volume of work in warehouses.
Those affected, around 80 workers, went two years without the company calling them back – which constitutes their obligation under article 16 of the Workers’ Statute – which led them to exhaust their unemployment benefits during this long period of inactivity during which, due to the contractual method, they also did not contribute to Social Security.
Faced with this situation of uncertainty, the majority of workers are asking to be laid off so they can look for work elsewhere, but the company is not willing to do the work, according to elDiario.es Murcia Region. They therefore find themselves in a professional impasse and with the pressure of having exhausted the benefits with which, all this time, they have been able to at least provide for the needs of their family.
Yusra, a cannery since 2005, does not understand the excuses of the company’s managers, who claim that the problem is that there is no work for the warehouses: “Yes, there is, but they prefer it to be done in the fields and save the money they paid us.” For Ahmed, it is scandalous that “seniority and experience” are not respected and he denounces the lack of sensitivity shown by human resources managers in the meetings they held. “They don’t care about leaving us in a dramatic situation,” he laments.
This editorial team tried, without success, to obtain the version of those responsible for Tecno Agricola Space, SL
A conflict that connects to an extended reality
Although the strike responds to a specific situation, its origin is linked to a structural problem in the Murcia countryside: the precariousness of employment which particularly affects migrant workers, many of whom are employed in very temporary conditions and with little protection.
In this context, social organizations recall that the current situation presents obvious similarities with the mobilizations which shook the agricultural sector in 2020, when the unions CC.OO, UGT and the Association of Moroccan Immigrant Workers (ATIM), denounced the exploitation of labor and the discrimination suffered by immigrant day laborers.
Repeated requests
ATIM representatives assure that many of the demands made at the time are still fully valid. “What is happening today shows that the problems were not specific, but structural,” explains the association. “In 2020, we already warned that without profound changes to the working model in the countryside, conflicts would repeat. »
ATIM then denounced exhausting days, contractual breaches, the lack of security measures and systematic inequalities between workers, particularly with regard to the migrant population.
“The Murcian campaign is supported thanks to people who often do not have a voice. Our work has been and continues to be to amplify this voice”, underlines the entity.
The trade union and association community warns that the persistent precariousness in the Murcian countryside reveals the absence of lasting solutions. For this reason, they assure that “each strike is an alarm signal that has not been heard before”, emphasizes ATIM. “As long as job insecurity is not addressed as a structural problem, conflicts will continue to arise in different companies. »
A new notice to the sector and institutions
The indefinite strike announced by the workers’ committee of Tecno Agricola Space, SL, It was communicated both to the management of the company and to the General Directorate of Labor of the Ministry of Business, Employment and Social Economy headed by the popular María Isabel López Aragón, and adds to the chain of conflicts that have marked the last decade in the Murcian countryside.
From ATIM, they insist on the fact that these mobilizations challenge not only businesses, but also public administrations. “We are not only talking about labor rights, but about dignity, equality and coexistence,” concludes the association. “Campaigns cannot continue to grow on the precariousness of those who support them. »
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