ReportageWithout the Bulgarian workforce, strawberries in Loir-et-Cher and vines in Indre-et-Loire would be dying. At the head of an armada of seasonal workers, a handful of recruiters use their networks to meet the expectations of dozens of local producers.
“To pick a strawberry without damaging it, you have to let the stem slide between your fingers so that the fruit falls by itself into the palm of your hand. It’s delicate work, for women,” says Djimi Bektashev, 30, a former seasonal worker who has become an agent for 260 Bulgarian workers, often families transported by bus, whom he deploys across the Loir-et-Cher. Until mid-June, here they are at the service of half a dozen strawberry growers among the forty-two in the department. Almost all have recourse to foreign labour, either Bulgarian or North African, paid at the minimum wage.
Between Montlivault and Saint-Claude-de-Diray, near a ferry allowing bicycle tourists to cross the Loire, we can see these young women swimming, a scarf on their head, squatting in endless plastic greenhouses, heated white by the sun. When the thermometer reaches 30°C outside, the temperature in the greenhouse easily exceeds 45°C. “In recent weeks, because of the high temperatures, I accompanied a few ladies to the emergency room in Blois. They felt unwell and lost their day,” Jimi laments.
In winter, his troops work in the tobacco fields of the poor mountains of Blagoevgrad, in southwestern Bulgaria, for 400 euros a month. In France, after a few pitfalls, Djimi prefers to no longer interfere with employment contracts: “I leave the declarations to the employer. It is his responsibility. » However, he remains vigilant: ” [En 2021], I supplied fifty people to a big strawberry farm. After three months, none had been paid, so I went to see the labor inspectorate… I had been in their office for ten minutes, waiting for my appointment, that a first payment was realized. This operator has a long arm, as you say in France. »
Djimi works solo, without a secretary or tout: the workers contact him through Facebook and Instagram. He then manages to find lodgings where to accommodate them, around 500 euros per month and per family. To the customer, Djimi invoices 140 euros of commission per month and per worker, to which he adds 120 euros of transport costs. ” [En 2022], the bus fare has been increased because of the price of diesel. »
“It’s very hard physically”
The department is affected by a shortage of seasonal workers from Morocco. For no specific reason, visas are issued in dribs and drabs and much too late: the farm of the Hermelin brothers, in Cour-Cheverny, has so far only obtained twelve workers out of its usual twenty-four. “People who are paid four months, for strawberries and then pickles, and who have no problem finding accommodation thanks to their family ties”, emphasizes Stéphane Hermelin.
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