Andalusian fresh produce association Hortyfruta has reacted with outrage to a report in The Guardian newspaper and a short film broadcast on the national daily’s website under the heading Salad Slaves.
The organisation has written to five of the UK’s major multiples -Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose -expressing its dismay that the industry has been “unfairly and unreasonably” targeted.
The film was posted on The Guardian’s website on 7 February featuring interviews with African migrant workers and showing appalling living conditions of some of those in the country, illegally surviving on Red Cross food aid and sleeping in hovels made from cardboard and plastic without water or sanitation.
But Hortyfruta md María José Pardo said using “slaves” in the headline was “inflammatory and unwarranted”. She also pointed out that the report lacked balance and at no point mentioned those working in the region legally.
“The report neglects to mention the considerable number of legal immigrants in the region who are benefiting from the employment opportunities offered by the Andalusian agricultural industry as well as the work of organisations such as our own that adhere to policies which support the legal recruitment and fair treatment of our foreign workers,” said Pardo in a letter to the newspaper’s editor shown to freshinfo.
The region’s horticultural workforce numbers 38,500 legal migrants who are contracted in their country of origin through a process that also oversees their accommodation and transport.
