Next year, the Moroccan government plans to send 20,000 seasonal laborers to Spain to harvest strawberries and other red fruits, as announced by the Minister of Employment, Mohamed Yatim, after meeting with the National Employment Agency (ANAPEC), responsible for the selection of candidates.
The institution published a statement saying that this figure entails an increase of 4,000 seasonal laborers compared to the 2018 campaign, and adds that more than 8,000 women (because the operation is only open to women) will have repeat contracts.
However, they make no reference to the considerable number of seasonal workers who fled in 2018 upon arrival in Spain or shortly afterwards to become irregular immigrants, and which according to sources familiar with the process involved at least 2,500 women.
There is also no mention of the various scandals reported by other seasonal workers, either because of sexual harassment or aggression, or because of the poor work and living condition in several of the strawberry farms, all of them in the province of Huelva.
Only indirectly does the statement mention the fact that the objective of the new contracting operation is to guarantee "decent work" with certain "guarantees in the selection, accommodation, working conditions and monitoring" of the operation, all agreed with "the Spanish part."
One of the new rules is that the workers who participate in four seasons will have the right to a Spanish residence card, which will turn this operation into a "circular migration model."
Source: EFE