Migrant Labour in the Agri-Food System in Europe: Unpacking the Social and Legal Factors of Exploitation

The aim of this Special Issue is to critically explore the complex links between labour migration and the agri-food sector in Europe, drawing attention to the variety of legal and social vectors and issues at stake in the contemporary forms of exploitation underpinning the agri-food system. Our intention is to contribute to scholarly discussion on the protection of the rights of migrant workers in the agri-food system by providing an in-depth analysis of the interplay of legal, social, economic and cultural factors that foster the recourse to a low-wage and exploitable labour force in the agri-food sector, and that produce the conditions of vulnerability experienced by migrant workers in Europe. We therefore seek to provide a critical overview of the diverse drivers and processes contributing to a system that fosters workers’ dependency on employers, confines a migrant labour force to specific sectors, and, simultaneously, facilitates their continuous replacement, profiting from specific situations of social, legal and economic vulnerability. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on the complex links between agri-food, migration and labour regimes, this Special Issue critically explores the dynamic socio-economic relationships between relevant European and national policies on labour mobility, migration and asylum, and agri-food restructuring processes. Specific attention is devoted to the current and potential impact of the Covid-19 crisis on migrant labour in the agri-food sector, investigating the effectiveness of national institutional actions in addressing migrant labourers’ working and living conditions, and in supporting long-term social and economic inclusion. From this perspective, the Special Issue intends to reflect on the extent to which the current pandemic crisis constitutes an opportunity for a new EU and national push to enforce labour rights and strengthen migrants’ rights, ensuring fair labour and living conditions. Lastly, while over recent years special attention has been paid to the conditions of exploitation of migrant workers in the agri-food sector in Southern Europe, in particular in Italy, Spain and Greece, several studies have also reported on the sub-standard and even abusive working conditions that migrant workers experience in Northern EU member states. The Special Issue deepens the analysis on this topic through a critical overview of, and comparison between Southern and Northern European countries, highlighting the impact of different socio-political systems, labour market dynamics and modes of production in fostering or preventing practices of exploitation and abuse in the agri-food sector. Before illustrating the key issues addressed by the five papers of this Special Issue, we focus on the complex relationships between agri-food and migrant labour, and a more nuanced framing of exploitation in the agri-food system that links contemporary forms of exploitation to relevant legal and policy framework on migration and labour rights, as well as to existing status hierarchies and social relations. The contributions to this Special Issue build on the findings of two projects funded by the Open Society Foundation (OSEPI) – “Going beyond raising awareness about migrant exploitation in Italian agriculture: why the system works the way it does” (2018), and “Is undeclared work in agriculture really just a Southern European problem and, if not, what is driving the demand elsewhere? Case studies on migrant labour in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden” (2019–2020) – which were coordinated by the editors of this Special Issue Letizia Palumbo, Alessandra Corrado and Anna Triandafyllidou under the auspices of the European University Institute’s Global Governance Program and Migration Policy Centre. The findings of first projects were published as three summary project reports: Corrado A., Caruso, Cascio M., Nori M., Palumbo L., Triandafyllidou A. (Eds.) (2018), Is Italian agriculture a ‘pull factor’ for irregular migration – and, if so, why?, OSEPI, Brussels; L. Palumbo and A. Corrado (Eds.) (2020), Are Agri-food Workers only Exploited in Southern Europe? Case Studies on Migrant Labour in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, OSEPI, Brussels; and Palumbo, L. and Corrado, A. (Eds.) (2020), Covid-19, Agri-food Systems, and Migrant Labour. The Situation in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, OSEPI, Brussels.1 The contributions presented in this Special Issue pursue these arguments further and add an analytical reflection that aims to break new ground in underlying the ways in which the restructuring of the agri-food sector in Europe and globally has intertwined with migration and asylum policies in ways highly detrimental to migrant workers’ and asylum seekers’ rights.