Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Strengthening social and labour rights for farmers and farm workers

Romain Schneider, Anette Kramme, Pedro Marques and 1 more 24th June 2021

The opportunity of CAP reform to cultivate fairer and more sustainable agriculture must not be wasted.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Romain Schneider

Agriculture has long been the bedrock of our economies. It produces most of the food and raw materials in the European Union and it provides a livelihood for many in rural communities. It has long been a focus for the EU too—the Common Agricultural Policy has been in place for almost 60 years, in one form or another.

As we work to make the EU fit for the future, it is right that we turn our focus to how we can transform agriculture.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Anette Kramme

Just transition

Under the leadership of Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, sustainability has been put at the top of the EU agenda. The objectives of the European Green Deal put the EU on a climate-neutral path. This will require change: farmers and farm workers will have to adapt, make the transition to new jobs and acquire new skills.

For the social-democratic family, the key point is that this green transition must leave no one behind. That is why the Green Deal promotes a just transition, which protects our farmers and farm workers, ensuring that the ecological and social dimensions go hand in hand.

Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content.


We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Thank you!

Please check your inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email to complete your newsletter subscription.

.
CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Pedro Marques

The CAP reform under negotiation by the EU institutions rightly seeks to realign the policy with the Green Deal. The CAP provides extensive financial support to EU farmers and this funding will become increasingly conditional on respecting certain environmental standards.

This is positive. But for socialists and democrats, the drive for more sustainable agriculture must go together with the drive for stronger social rights. That is central to our vision of a just transition.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Agnes Jongerius

While farmers and agricultural workers ensure European citizens have food on their table, those working in the agri-food sector often do not benefit from high social standards. Agricultural work is notoriously tough, with long working hours and difficult working conditions. Everyone recognises the harshness and difficulty of farming life but not enough is done to correct this social injustice.

Not just income support

For farmers, the income support the CAP provides is not all they need. They also need good living conditions, health insurance, adequate pensions, childcare and eldercare, the possibility to take days off and an opportunity to build a social life.

More than 70 per cent of EU farmers have not received any agricultural training beyond their own practical experience. Yet adequate skills are a precondition for making the transition to more sustainable farming and access to education and training is just as important in agriculture as in other sectors.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

We want to see social protection for farmers strengthened through the CAP, taking into consideration the specific social needs and conditions of farming. We must do this now if we are to ensure agriculture remains a sustainable and attractive sector for generations to come.

Frequent exploitation

We must do more for agricultural workers too. Exploitation is still too frequent. Workers are often employed under short-term contracts which leave them no job security and insufficient (if any) social-security coverage, putting them at risk of in-work poverty and social exclusion. 

The pandemic has exposed them to yet more dangers—inadequate working conditions and accommodation which make social distancing impossible, and lack of protective equipment. Infringements of labour rights, exploitation and forced labour have continued during the pandemic, across the EU.

We should use the opportunity of the new CAP to improve conditions for agricultural workers too, by including a form of social conditionality in the CAP. With the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the publication of an Action Plan for its implementation under the leadership of Nicolas Schmit, commissioner for jobs and social rights, the EU is striving for more social progress. It is time to live up to these ambitions.

Social progress

Making the CAP greener is a positive move to accelerate our path towards climate neutrality—it will protect our environment and the health of our citizens. But for this reform to be truly successful, truly just, it must embrace the social pillar and ensure agriculture contributes to social progress.

Disbursement of CAP funding should be based on respect for both environmental and social standards. If social and labour laws are not sufficiently taken into account, farming households will struggle to reconcile a seven-day working week on the farm and working conditions in agriculture will continue to deteriorate, with low wages, insufficient legal protection and unhealthy working conditions.  

The coronavirus crisis has shown how crucial farmers and agricultural workers are to the basic functioning of our societies. Without them, there would be no agricultural system. When stocks were running low in our supermarkets, they were producing the food to resupply them. They deserve a better deal.

As European socialists and democrats, we believe every worker in the EU is entitled to decent and fair working conditions. Farmers and farm workers are no exception. 

Through the European Green Deal and the social pillar, the EU has set clear commitments and ambitions. It has an opportunity to sow the seeds through a reformed CAP. We must not waste this opportunity to cultivate a socially fair and more sustainable future for all citizens.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Romain Schneider

Romain Schneider is minister of agriculture, viticulture and rural development, as well as social security, in Luxembourg. He is chair of the Party of European Socialists' Agri Ministerial Network.

Anette Kramme

Anette Kramme is a member of the Bundestag and parliamentary state secretary to the federal minister of labour and social affairs in Germany.

Pedro Marques

Pedro Marques is vice-president of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament and its co-ordinator with the Party of European Socialists on the implementation of the progressive commission work programme.

Agnes Jongerius

Agnes Jongerius is co-ordinator for the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament on the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and chair of the Party of European Socialists' Social Europe Network.

Home ・ Economy ・ Strengthening social and labour rights for farmers and farm workers

Most Popular Posts

schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling
world order,Russia,China,Europe,United States,US The coming world orderMarc Saxer
south working,remote work ‘South working’: the future of remote workAntonio Aloisi and Luisa Corazza
Russia,Putin,assets,oligarchs Seizing the assets of Russian oligarchsBranko Milanovic
Russians,support,war,Ukraine Why do Russians support the war against Ukraine?Svetlana Erpyleva

Most Recent Posts

Gazprom,Putin,Nordstream,Putin,Schröder How the public loses out when politicians cash inKatharina Pistor
defence,europe,spending Ukraine and Europe’s defence spendingValerio Alfonso Bruno and Adriano Cozzolino
North Atlantic Treaty Organization,NATO,Ukraine The Ukraine war and NATO’s renewed credibilityPaul Rogers
transnational list,European constituency,European elections,European public sphere A European constituency for a European public sphereDomènec Ruiz Devesa
hydrogen,gas,LNG,REPowerEU EU hydrogen targets—a neo-colonial resource grabPascoe Sabido and Chloé Mikolajczak

Other Social Europe Publications

The transatlantic relationship
Women and the coronavirus crisis
RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020
Corporate taxation in a globalised era

ETUI advertisement

Bilan social / Social policy in the EU: state of play 2021 and perspectives

The new edition of the Bilan social 2021, co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), reveals that while EU social policy-making took a blow in 2020, 2021 was guided by the re-emerging social aspirations of the European Commission and the launch of several important initiatives. Against the background of Covid-19, climate change and the debate on the future of Europe, the French presidency of the Council of the EU and the von der Leyen commission must now be closely scrutinised by EU citizens and social stakeholders.


AVAILABLE HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Living and working in Europe 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a defining force in 2021, and Eurofound continued its work of examining and recording the many and diverse impacts across the EU. Living and working in Europe 2021 provides a snapshot of the changes to employment, work and living conditions in Europe. It also summarises the agency’s findings on issues such as gender equality in employment, wealth inequality and labour shortages. These will have a significant bearing on recovery from the pandemic, resilience in the face of the war in Ukraine and a successful transition to a green and digital future.


AVAILABLE HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us on social media

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube