On March 19, 21 and 22, the Regional Ethical Trade Forums were held in Huelva, Almería and Murcia

A total of 160 representatives of the companies of the fruit and vegetable sector met to share and discuss the issues raised in each of the agendas prepared by Conexion Social and that were once again facilitated by Cristina Talens.

In Huelva, after the presentation and updating of the Working Group by Belén Fernández Peñaranda (Driscoll’s) and Isabel Martinez (Angus Soft Fruits), Manuel Piedra of Unión de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos (UPA) developed a paper on Recruitment in countries of origin, training and information for immigrant workers.

On the part of the Unions, in Huelva Luciano Gómez (UGT), in Almería Javier Castaño (CCOO) and in Murcia, Jesús Cámara (REDES) addressed the issue of the Minimum Wage and Hours of work for 2019, its legal framework and application.

In Huelva Borja Ferrera from INTERFRESA explained the Formation of the Labor and Social Ethical Responsibility Plan of Interfresa (PRELSI), and Mario Sánchez de Gracia (General Manager of the Tariquejo Residence), detailed the experience of the Insertion for workers and integral plan of follow-up of the worker that apply in Cartaya.

Mario led one of the workshops of the day in Huelva on the design of an insertion program and a comprehensive plan for the follow-up of workers.

In Almería and Murcia, the first workshops were facilitated by Cristina Talens, and focused on how to perform a risk analysis and how to solve labor and human rights problems (Basic Code of Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)).

 The second workshop in the three forums focused on Recruitment and control tools to protect workers in agriculture, how to identify informal and illegal recruiters, research and exploitation rates, were directed by Santiago Porto, representative of Stronger Together, after which he made a presentation to the companies of the forum about this program.

In Almería and Murcia, Pia Navazo, from Business & Human Rights, presented the ETI survey on working conditions in the Agriculture sector in Southern Spain, and the company QUIVA was in charge of presenting the companies their systems of technological solutions to improve the systems of control of schedules and presence.

Esperanza Lisón, supported by her Red Cross team, presented in Murcia the experience of business alliances with employment programs in the Murcia region, financed by the European Social Fund.

Diego Martínez (Bureau Veritas) brought to Almeria his presentation on how to develop labor control systems with small farmers.

The three days were held in relaxed environments, with spaces for coffee and lunch, where attendees took the opportunity to share opinions and exchange impressions.

The next Regional Forums will take place in June.