|
Olive plantation laborers subjected
to degrading
conditions |
The
workers and their families are forced to live in subhuman conditions: they
sleep in tents and on mattresses or a few blankets laid over pallets used to
move olive crates in stowage operations.
Through a
series of inspections conducted in Aimogasta, province of La Rioja,
the Argentinean Association of Rural Workers (UATRE) detected the
existence of almost a thousand rural migrant workers -known as “golondrinas”
after the migrant birds- who are subjected to subhuman living conditions.
The companies inspected were Agropecuaria Anjullón SA, El Benteveo
SA, and CAC SA, all of which belong to the business group
Nucete.
UATRE
demands that the government authorities responsible for enforcing labor laws
intervene to guarantee that all workers are registered in the National Rural
Workers and Employers Registry (RENATRE) and are issued the only
document valid in agricultural activities: the Rural Worker’s Card, intended
to protect labor relations. In this way: “Aimogasta’s olive
production workers will be covered by our country’s Social Security system
and will enjoy all the benefits, like workers in all other sectors,”
UATRE’s National Secretary said.
After
surveying 1.251 workers employed by 9 companies, 866 were found to work for
the three Nucete group companies. These workers are employed
irregularly, as they were hired by a cooperative that the companies use to
commit various frauds in violation of labor laws.
The
laborers working for these companies declared they did not know where the
domicile of their employer was or who the authorities of the firm (named
Huentala) were. They claimed not to know the Managing Board of the
falsely called cooperative, and said they had never attended any meetings or
sessions of the cooperative. These findings reveal that a labor fraud has
presumably been committed; aggravated by the fact that many workers have
declared that they were forced to join the Huentala cooperative in
order to work in olive harvesting tasks.
According
to the data gathered in the investigation conducted by UATRE, the
workers and their families are forced to live in subhuman conditions: they
sleep in tents and on mattresses or a few blankets laid over pallets used to
move olive crates in stowage operations, they have no bathroom facilities
and lack proper lighting, among other irregularities that violate minimum
standards of hygiene and safety.
The
companies that were inspected are located in Aimogasta, province of La
Rioja. The Nucete business group –owner of the three companies
that subject the workers to humiliating living conditions- is the leading
olive producer in the region and the country. The vast majority of the
workers surveyed are from northern Argentina, and they come to this
region to work in the olive harvest.
UATRE
February
22, 2007
Illustration: © Rel-UITA
PHOTOS: UATRE - OSPRERA
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