Documents agricultural worker 89 results

"Farmer protests have characterised much of the debate on climate and the environment in the EU in recent years. The protests and the European Commission′s subsequent rollback on environmental requirements for farming have cast doubt on the viability of the European Green Deal (EGD). Work on farms is inherently intertwined with nature. Climate change—through rising temperatures and extreme weather events—is already impacting working conditions. At the same time, agriculture is responsible for 11% of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and is a major cause of biodiversity loss. Most research on the EGD has tended to focus on energy-related sectors, with comparatively less research on what it means for sectors like agriculture. This article applies a social law lens to legislation on agriculture in the EU and asks: what does the EGD mean for those who work in agriculture, and, to what extent is a just transition envisioned for the sector? The article is situated within a broader turn in labour law scholarship to examine the labour-nature nexus. It identifies social measures within the EGD, the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with a focus on two disadvantaged groups: smallholder farmers and farmworkers. The article argues that there are elements of a just transition in current EU policies and legislation on agriculture, such as income support provisions, targeted measures for young farmers, and the introduction of a social conditionality clause. However, the social dimension of these instruments require further development to strengthen the connection between social concerns on the one hand, and economic and environmental concerns on the other. More fundamentally, the article points to a lack of a coherent vision of what a just transition in agriculture should entail—particularly in terms of its economic model and the position of those most affected, including smallholder farmers and farmworkers. This gap may help in explaining some of the underlying reasons for the farmer protests."

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"Much work in primary agricultural production is low-skill, temporary and seasonal in nature, and in the EU it attracts a large proportion of migrant workers, both from within and outside the Union. Work is often precarious, and cases of rights infringements, exploitation and forced labour have been reported across the Union. A recent step by the EU has been to confront these problems through immigration law, with the adoption in February 2014 of the Seasonal Workers Directive, which creates narrowly drawn possibilities for a legal right to work and reside for third-country nationals undertaking seasonal work. Reflecting on the tendency in practice for immigration status to trump employment rights, this article argues that a more effective response could be found within the EU's longstanding Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Farm subsidies are conditional on compliance with a body of existing EU legislation, in respect to environmental protection, public health and animal welfare. While highlighting the limited engagement with social concerns to date under the CAP, it is argued that space should be made for social conditionality in the CAP, with subsidies made conditional on respect for employment rights for all workers."