A camp of seasonal workers in front of a warehouse in Pauillac, during the harvest in the Médoc region, October 6, 2023 in Gironde (AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
In the middle of the harvest, in Saint-Estèphe, in the heart of the Médoc, dozens of tents, trucks and caravans of seasonal workers pile up on municipal land bordering the Gironde, near the prestigious castles.
Three kilometers further on, two other camps overflow from the port of Pauillac. French gypsy workers say they come for the harvest and declare their installation at the town hall, like every season.
How to accommodate the thousands of grape pickers? Châteaux and elected officials in Bordeaux are “passing the buck”, against the backdrop of a much more discreet phenomenon of slumlords, or even trafficking, which has come to add to the housing crisis.
In the spring, three people were sentenced in Libourne for “trafficking” of wine workers. The local prosecutor then denounced “a real omerta”.
In September, in Champagne, two investigations for “trafficking in human beings” were opened, and collective accommodation for grape pickers, deemed “unsanitary” and “unworthy”, closed by the authorities.
– “Not on my lawn” –
In 2008, Michelle Saintout, newly elected mayor of Saint-Estèphe, ordered a Bordeaux businessman, owner of a castle, to accommodate “seasonal travelers” installed in a camp.
“The person in charge replied to me: but Monsieur will not want that on his lawn,” says, with raised eyebrows, the elected socialist of the commune “aux 60 châteaux”.
“The next day, they were no longer there. I never knew if their contracts had been broken,” a threat already brandished by another castle during a similar exchange, she recalls.
Vineyards near the village of Saint-Estèphe, October 6, 2023 in Gironde (AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
At the same time, the elected official issued a “rental permit” decree to fight against potential slumlords, after noticing groups of seasonal workers leaving old cramped accommodation or the installation of several mailboxes on the same apartment .
According to specialists, these problems have always “more or less existed”, but the housing crisis for seasonal agricultural workers has increased since the 1990s.
Mainly to blame, the tightening of accommodation rules, similar to those of a cheap hotel, the disappearance of the student workforce with the advance of the start of the university year and the growing shortage of local workers, sleeping at home .
Bringing reception up to standard fifteen days a year represents an investment amortized over 20 years. “Many châteaux then gave up,” says Bruno Meunier, director of Anefa Gironde, a joint organization for agricultural employment.
– Illegal immigration –
In the Médoc, according to a latest census, locals only represent a third of the grape pickers, supplanted by French, Spanish or Portuguese “nomads, itinerants”, North African immigrants, or Eastern European Roma.
The recruitment and housing of these seasonal workers were gradually delegated to service and agricultural work providers, which have multiplied over twenty years.
The recruitment and housing of seasonal workers were gradually delegated to service and agricultural work providers, which have multiplied in twenty years (AFP/Archives/MEHDI FEDOUACH)
But when accommodation is provided for in the employment contract with this intermediary, the castle, the final employer, remains responsible in the event of shortcomings.
According to Bénédicte Lavaud-Legendre, a CNRS researcher specializing in trafficking, exploitation networks are sometimes hidden among this swarm of providers, in the form of declared companies, but in reality “empty shells”.
The mechanism resembles that of smugglers. For several thousand euros, the “salesman” intermediary, originally from the candidate’s country, provides a seasonal contract, sometimes accompanied by unworthy accommodation which he can terminate at any time, explains the researcher, on the basis of three procedures for “trafficking” of Moroccan seasonal workers during the 2010s.
According to the Central Office for Combating Illegal Work, “illegal immigration networks use these foreign labor platforms to bring illegal immigrants into the country”.
“When you see prices that are too low, don’t go there,” warns Benjamin Banton, boss of Banton-Lauret, local leader of agricultural work companies, “exasperated” by certain “suspicious” practices, heard, but “without proof “.
On behalf of the 30 companies which have joined his inter-union association of local service providers, he assures that he has “taken the bull by the horns” since the development of the use of foreign labor.
He has bought several houses to accommodate up to 18 people maximum, and “spends (his) time doing inventory of campsites and rental houses”.
– “New generation” –
Émeline Borie, president of the Pauillac appellation wine union, assures that “a new generation has taken charge. Many châteaux have demanded to go and see the service provider’s homes”.
Ronan Laborde, president of the Union des grands crus de Bordeaux, explains that he pays nearly 28 euros per hour and per employee to a renowned service provider, who deducts from the invoice a portion dedicated to team accommodation.
Out of ten Grand Cru Classé châteaux surveyed by AFP, four have invested in accommodation, campsites or reception areas and reinternalized recruitment to “retain” the workforce (AFP/Archives/GEORGES GOBET)
Out of ten Grand Cru Classé châteaux surveyed by AFP, four have invested in accommodation, campsites or reception areas and reinternalized recruitment to “retain” the workforce.
But all indicate that they more or less use carefully chosen service providers. Some of them warn against a return to the outdated model of “paternalism of 100 years ago”.
Many grape pickers living in trucks set up in squats or in caravans on vacant lots, met by AFP, claim their “freedom” preferable “to overly expensive campsites”.
Alongside them, “particularly invisible Moroccan” or Romanian nationals “living in slums” coexist, more vulnerable to the networks, warns Médecins du monde which has launched a mission on “precarious workers” in Médoc.
According to the prefecture, the labor inspectorate has carried out 140 inspections over the last two years, or “four times more” than before, for 20% of illegal work and two cases of trafficking noted.
The Libourne public prosecutor’s office has noted “in recent years”, “an increase in complaints from exploited people”, linked to poor housing or trafficking, and makes it “one of its priorities”.
But according to an institutional source, who suspects “a phenomenon of greater magnitude”, “few reports” are still coming from the field.
The public authorities recently launched a charter guaranteeing better working conditions with the inter-professional association, which wants to “become the first vineyard in the world certified CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)”.
Of the 480 service provider companies in Gironde, around forty should ratify it by the end of the year.
© 2023 AFP
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