Laura Ramírez I Huelva, (EFE) each agricultural season thousands of Moroccan women attend.
This system is known as contracting at source and it has been shown to be an effective alternative to solve the problem that arises when the job offer required by a sector is higher than the demand.
The experience of contracting at source in the province of Huelva goes back decades, as explained to EFE by the president of Asaja Huelva and the Interprofesional Andaluza la Fresa y los Frutos Rojos de Huelva (Interfresa), José Luis García-Palacios , specifically to 1998, when the first experiences with Romania and Poland began.
At present, after years with hiring only in Morocco, new experiences are being carried out that transfer temporary workers from Honduras and Ecuador to Huelva.
The starting point for claiming the need to hire workers at source is the same in Cádiz as it was in its day and still is in Huelva.
From the field to the hospitality industry
“People don’t want to work in the fields,” says García-Palacios, so this option is presented to us “as the only one we have to carry out the campaign.”
The same thing has led Cádiz businessmen to consider hiring Moroccans, that is, they do not find enough labor to face a job offer that triples in the summer months.
García-Palacios assures that the contracting model at source that is carried out in Huelva’s agricultural sector can be “extrapolated” to the hospitality sector of Cádiz, but points out that to be carried out there would have to be a bilateral agreement between Spain and Morocco.
In labor contracting, the organization and supervision correspond to the competent ministries of both countries, while the employers, in this case the agrarian organizations of Huelva, limit themselves to selecting the personnel that the Moroccan Government makes available.
Beyond that, between the case of Cádiz and Huelva there is a difference in the qualifications of the required personnel, since neither specific training nor knowledge of the target language is needed for the agricultural campaign, since this barrier is overcome with translators , in the case of the hotel industry, in addition to basic training, it is necessary to know the language.
candidate profile
This implies that the profile that the candidates must meet is very different; in the case of Huelva, both countries have been betting on women with family roots to favor the return to Morocco after the campaign; while in Cádiz the profile is more qualified, with training in hospitality and knowledge of Spanish.
With the profile clear, the hospitality sector would also have to work on other issues such as ensuring compliance with working conditions and offering housing for those hired during the time they carry out their work in Spain, requirements that Huelva farmers also meet.
Saved the profile and compliance with these requirements, and reached that bilateral agreement between Spain and Morocco, contracting at source could be the alternative in Cádiz as it has been in Huelva. EFE