26 January 2021, 13:00 – 14:30 CET

“Seasonal migrant workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic”

You can see this webinar on YouTube.

Chair:

• Patrycja Matusz, University of Wroclaw, Poland

Participating researchers, presenting case studies on seasonal and temporary labour migration in Spain, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands:

• Jeroen Doomernik, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Blanca Garces-Mascarenas, CIDOB, Spain
• Berta Guell, CIDOB, Spain
• Eirini Aivaliotou, University of Wroclaw, Poland

Discussant:

• Panos Hatziprokopiou, Aristotle  University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Content:

The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed the situation of temporary labour migrants in the agricultural sector all through Europe. Besides border closures inhibiting arrivals as well as departures from home, unsafe housing, travel and working conditions received wide media-attention. In this webinar we will discuss these issues based on our fieldwork in Spain, Poland, Germany and The Netherlands. Next to Covid-19 induced problems, our fieldwork dealt with legal questions in case of 3^rdcountry nationals, recruitment and the role of intermediaries, exploitative employment and housing conditions, as well as broader considerations about the essential contributions migrant workers make to agricultural production. In the light of this, a number of policy propositions for the EU as well as the national level will be formulated and discussed.