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‘GIORGI’ ROCCA, Italy – His hands were slightly visible, so they temporarily pressed the mower before dropping the grape clusters into red plastic containers. staff due to a pandemic tried in vain to make up for it.
Although originally from a Romanian region famous for her wine, Alexandra Ichim had never worked in vineyards before traveling to the Italian region of Lombardy for the September harvest, known in Italian as vendemmia: the salary is too low in Romania and career situations too harsh. For Italian work, the 20-year-old travelled on a 12-hour bus and flew back to the region of her home in Arad when the harvest arrived.
It is thought that the seasonal staff of Eastern Europe, led by Romanians, is an essential element to bring food to the table on the continent. Their willingness to work dubious jobs for reduced wages is sought abroad and their profits are desperately sought at home At a time when moving to paintings is considered harmful to everyone, they are among the last normal border personnel in the world. Unlike farms that desperately want it, there are no EU subsidies or special coverage in case of illness.
Approximately one in five Romanian paintings abroad. In Italy, 1. 2 million of them have established their residence, and thousands more come and go through transitional work. France and Spain are not far away as paint destinations. And when the coronavirus hit, about a million people from all over Europe returned to Romania. , ignoring the Romanian president’s request to remain in office and avoid bringing the virus he was already wreaking havoc on Western Europe. For many, they were the longest home vacation of their adult life.
Workers can earn around 1,200 euros a month running 8 hours a day of sales in Italy, compared to 700 euros a month of 10 hours a day in Romania.
Ichim has lived in Lombardy with his mother since 2006 and speaks impeccable Italian. He was in Romania with his father when the coronavirus outbreak first hit Italy this year, in a guide wheel factory, which then sent home the closure of the virus in Rumania. Se went to register on behalf of his mother as soon as the borders were re-opened. At the time, Romania’s infection rate was low and no quarantine was required, however, within a few weeks, about 40 days were required in Italy for Romanian travellers. Bulgaria.
One province, Trento, allowed farms and vineyards to establish “paint quarantines” where masked seasonal staff can simply paint outdoors in their own groups and space on the site.
“A company can’t stay like a stranger for 14 days without putting it to work. This is an obviously unsustainable cost,” Roberto Caponi of the Italian agricultural confederation said. The fruit itself also cannot wait, as Ottavia Gorgi di Vistarino tastes good.
His family’s land stretches over 4 hills in Rocca de ‘Giorgi, a small town about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Milan. The harvest begins with Pino Nero for Spumante, followed by Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, followed by more Pino Nero for red wine.
Ichim joined a team for Pino Nero’s first harvest in mid-September, crossing the cone-shaped clusters at an impressive pace. The winery’s full-time foreman, Christian Florisan, is Romanian from the Arad region, as are many painting men. in the presses.
“Corona has put the agricultural sector on its knees more than any other. Everywhere, at home in Romania and here in Italy, we have difficulty locating people,” said Florisan, who has lived in Italy for 14 years. They don’t come because they’re afraid of COVID, and they’re afraid of having to do two weeks of quarantine and when they get home, their wallet will be emptyer than before. “
It is estimated that more than part of its staff is Romanian, but the numbers have dropped by 25% this year. Across the country, the vineyards are wasting 36,000 employees, not all of the fruit will be harvested on time and many will be left at home without pay.
Everyone who came here from Romania underwent medical examinations, Florisan said, but said not everyone had the nasal swab test.
Up to one million seasonal workers cross EU borders each year, according to the rules set out in July through the European Commission. When the virus first erupted, the Romanian president asked citizens not to return from paintings abroad, but generally partly ignored by other people who needed or sought to return home so they promised to be weeks of isolation. Back in Romania, suspicious neighbors called the government to report setbacks from Italy, Spain or France.
The first case of coronavirus in Romania dates back to Lombardy, the northern Italian region that suffered the first wave of devastating deaths in Europe, according to Gabriel Hancean, a sociologist who led a team of researchers who traced the country’s first infections. it is now Eastern Europe where the virus is at its highest point, with Romania recording the continent’s weekly mortality rate after Spain.
Hancean said that now few people seem to care about travelers from Europe, Romanians or not.
“There is spread of the virus in the community, and it does not matter who enters the country or not,” he said.
Ichim and her boyfriend, Dennis Sirca, were already making plans to return on vacation to Arad, not knowing if they would be quarantined there, they didn’t really care about any of them, as they earned two to three times the harvest they may have had in their “real” jobs. I’d do it again.
“In Romania, we don’t make cash, we can’t make money running, so we got here to harvest,” he said.
Back in Romania, the paintings of his factory have evaporated and there is no prospect of paintings in sight, Ichim does not aim to harvest there, the farms face a shortage of labor similar to that of their Western European counterparts.
What they lack is the flexibility of their own government, Carmen Avram, a Romanian member of the European Parliament who has defended temporary workers.
Even when the borders were closed last spring, it became known in Western Europe that without them, there would not be enough people to bring fruits and vegetables or paintings to slaughterhouses. The regulations governing movement across Europe have faded. have chartered planes for Romanian painters.
Avram said the Romanian government had never presented this kind of luck to farms and factories in the house, or to money, and described last spring as a brief window that Romania may have kept its young people.
“We can start from the beginning and have them here, and make this country prosper,” he said. “But we lost that moment. This is a national tragedy. “
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Trisha Thomas contributed.
Lori Hinnant, Associated Press