CIHEAM Press Review

Across Italy, African workers living in rural ghettoes, most of them without work, have been left to fend for themselves without even basic protection against Covid-19. In the province of Foggia, thousands of African workers still live in and around the demolished encampment of Borgo Mezzanone, without safety equipment such as masks and disinfectants. The workers’ union USB recently launched a fundraiser to purchase basic necessities and protective equipment to be distributed in the ghettoes in Foggia and Calabria.

Over the last few weeks, politicians and business associations have sounded the alarm on the disruption in Europe's food supply chains, and particularly in agriculture.
Lockdown measures, the halt to intra-EU circulation and the ban on international travel to Europe have left farmers across Europe facing a shortage of hundreds of thousands of workers.
This alludes to a pan European and systemic issue: from Spain and Italy to France, Belgium, or Poland, harvests are under threat and Europeans are entirely dependent on the hard labour and sweat of foreign-born workers.

The Health Ministry on Tuesday released additional measures for seasonal agricultural workers as part of efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the statement, seasonal workers will be checked for symptoms and fevers before starting their travel. Those who have symptoms will not be allowed to set off and will be sent to a health facility to be tested for the virus.
Seasonal workers without symptoms or fevers will wear masks during their travel, also abiding by general COVID-19 travel rules implemented for buses and air transportation.

Pour remédier au manque de main-d’œuvre dû à l’épidémie de Covid-19, la ministre de l’Agriculture propose de régulariser les centaines de milliers de migrants qui travaillent sans contrat. Les critiques n’ont pas tardé et la droite a réagi de façon virulente, mais un texte législatif serait déjà à