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As summer time ends, so does the harvest season.
In Romania, farmers have been bustling, presenting ripe strawberries, cherries, and crisp lettuce in markets unfold throughout cities and cities.
In Germany, the beloved asparagus season “Spargelzeit” has ended. Harvesting asparagus and berries by hand requires each talent and endurance.
The harvesters are paid per amount and if the standard of the harvested merchandise is inferior, they obtain much less cash.
Brandenburg — the area subsequent to the German capital — is known for its asparagus. Its sandy soil is ideal for rising asparagus however makes harvesting very laborious.
Within the summertime, the fields flip right into a desert-like scene and the employees spend hours bent over chopping the asparagus spears.
Many will later pay with their well being as a result of the hours within the solar with none type of safety will increase their danger of pores and skin most cancers.
Who’s prepared to take this powerful job? Final summer time, of the 303,867 individuals in Germany’s agricultural sector, 120,249 have been foreigners predominantly from Romania and Poland.
Some 46 p.c of those non-German seasonal employees have been employed as short-term employees, which signifies that their employers don’t pay social safety contributions.
The idea of short-term work goes again to the outdated days when pupils or retirees would assist throughout the harvesting season.
For 70 days, employees will be employed within the agricultural sector with out social insurance coverage.
Nonetheless, that is solely authorized, if the short-term employment constitutes a supplementary earnings and the worker has one other fundamental and insurable occupation.
However this isn’t the case for a lot of seasonal employees.
The “truthful agricultural work” initiative (Faire Landarbeit) is a coalition of commerce unions and church organisations that present data and authorized help to seasonal employees from the EU and third nations.
A number of occasions throughout the harvesting season they hand out leaflets about German labour legislation in a number of languages and discuss to the employees.
Quite a few employees divulge to them that they rely solely on these seasonal jobs.
Final autumn, Marina S. encountered challenges when she was missing data for her tax declaration in Romania.
She and her husband Andrei S., each of whom had labored on a German farm for 3 consecutive years, have been denied data on their social rights by their employer.
Their contracts had been restricted to 2 weeks, a number of occasions in a row. Regardless of being suggested to lodge an official grievance, Marina hesitated, fearing repercussions on future employment alternatives.
The German authorities introduced ahead some enhancements for seasonal employees. For instance, employers should report that their employees have medical insurance.
Nonetheless, many employers use non-public group medical insurance schemes that don’t cowl all sicknesses and coverings. As well as, not all employers fulfil their obligations.
Mihail P., after struggling a dental emergency, was left with an exorbitant hospital invoice and no help from his employer or German authorities on insurance coverage protection.
Neither his employer nor the German authorities helped him make clear his state of affairs. He doesn’t have a job in Romania and can now should spend his entire earnings on his medical therapy.
This isn’t a German downside. It’s a European downside.
The EU’s open labour market affords many advantages, particularly for nations like Germany which want employees.
Nonetheless, sending nations like Romania and particularly cell employees have been dropping out for a lot too lengthy.
If they’re now not in a position to reduce asparagus or decide berries — who pays for his or her pensions or unemployment advantages? Many work extensively in Germany with none social insurance coverage.
This neglect of EU residents’ rights threatens the European ethos of equal therapy and freedom of motion.
The EU regulation for the coordination of social safety methods is a legislation designed to forestall such conditions but it surely urgently wants updating.
The European Parliament and the Council have been negotiating a revision of the regulation for years and time is operating out.
Spanish hope
After a interval of gradual progress within the negotiations between the establishments, the Spanish presidency of the EU Council has declared this reform one in every of their priorities.
It stays to be seen although, whether or not the Council can overcome its difficulties and at last discover a frequent place internally. Some member states cashing in on the state of affairs appear to deliberately delay additional progress on this vital file.
The negotiators are confronted with a number of remaining open questions, particularly the precept of prior notification to make sure the supply of social safety protection for cell employees and the query of which member state ought to be answerable for paying unemployment advantages of cross-border employees.
The European Parliament negotiation crew agreed that digital options may on the one hand scale back the executive burden of corporations whereas permitting for efficient controls to forestall fraud and exploitation.
Discovering an answer right here may lastly ship much-needed reforms. For the Parliament, the one resolution that may be discovered is one that gives higher safety for employees than earlier than.
As well as, and as a second step, the member states in addition to the Fee should assure to hold out the required controls to implement the sensible implementation of the legislation, along with a strengthened involvement of the European Labour Authority.
Will probably be important to see whether or not the Spanish EU presidency can observe up on the nice intentions.
The negotiation crew of the European Parliament continues to be optimistic to discover a compromise that works for all employees — particularly essentially the most susceptible — and to forestall shameful practices as skilled by Marina and Mihail.
This might be a step in the direction of an economic system that works for all individuals — not for simply a few of them.