Moroccan Farmworker Escapes Alleged ’Modern Slavery’ in French Strawberry Fields

It was on the square of Puymirol that the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), in the presence of Fatima, held a press conference, denouncing the pitfalls of a contract that could have turned into a tragedy, if she had not made the decision to escape in the middle of the night.

Fatima’s adventure begins in early spring last year when she receives a phone call from Aziza, an acquaintance living in France. She offers her the chance of a lifetime, she who lives in a remote countryside in Morocco: to come and pick strawberries. Aziza, who is the head of cultivation in an operation in Tayrac, offers her around 1500 euros per month and takes care of all the paperwork. Convinced that this would be a good deal, Fatima accepts the deal. She arrives in Tayrac with several other Moroccan women. They are all housed in mobile homes. But the young woman will soon be disillusioned, reports francetvinfo.

She claims that she had to work 7 days a week for 2 months. "We worked every day without rest, from 7am to 12pm, sometimes until 3pm, and we resumed in the afternoon until 5pm," she confides. What she was experiencing was far from what the head of cultivation Aziza had promised her. "We got the days off when there were fewer strawberries to pick at the end of June, beginning of July. They sometimes gave us a Saturday or a Sunday, otherwise it was 7 days a week."

Exasperated by the conditions, she takes advantage of the Eid al-Fitr holiday to flee in the middle of the night. She finds refuge with a family member in Toulouse. Once she has recovered from her emotions, she contacts the CGT and tells them about her life in this strawberry field: intensive work, exhaustion, leg pain, insults. Even Aziza, who found her this opportunity, has become her tormentor. "Aziza said I wasn’t picking fast enough, that I wasn’t filling enough trays. She shouted at me so loudly that it terrified me," says Fatima.

The other aspect that made the work even more difficult were the expenses that were not planned when the contract was signed. These are the airfare, the mobile home rental fees of 150 euros per month, and 100 euros per month for groceries...

The CGT local union of Agenais is no stranger to such cases. "We want to alert the authorities to certain unacceptable practices. It is often very difficult for these people, isolated, to be able to speak up and defend their rights," explains Benoît Roussel, a militant of the CGT local union of Agen.

At the press conference organised by the union on Sunday, August 1, there were also Arielle Pianegonda and Éric Tovo, the owners of the operation. There were other farmers who came to support them. "I’m going to sue you for slander and moral prejudice!" Eric Tovo yells at the CGT representatives following the leaflet accusing him of mistreatment.

After the press conference, Fatima went to file a complaint with the gendarmerie of the commune for undeclared work. "It is a defamation by the CGT" protests Eric Tovo. "It is normal for them to defend the employees, I simply regret that they did not come to visit our operation. The workers are housed in the best possible conditions, our goal is to have them all come back next year!"

Eric Tovo should be heard by the gendarmes this week. He intends to file a complaint for defamation in turn.