Misconceiving ‘seasons’ in global food systems: The case of the EU Seasonal Workers Directive

Abstract

This article discusses the EU Seasonal Workers Directive alongside case study data of seasonal agricultural work in Spain. The conceptual contribution is to critically consider 'seasonality' and the related assumptions around temporary labour migration for agricultural work. This consideration informs an analysis of the Directive's policy approach alongside its three global objectives. It is argued that this Directive is likely to fail to meet all three of these objectives; the assumed timeframe for labour demands does not correspond with unmet seasonal challenges; the lack of options for undocumented workers already in the EU may compound their marginalisation; the policy approach of circular migration and limited worker protections does not do enough to prevent new seasonal workers from falling into situations of vulnerability and undocumented status. | INTRODUCTIONMigration patterns elicited by seasonal demand for agricultural labour have long been a very tangible reality in Europe.The scale and characteristics of the flows have been very much influenced in recent decades by the development of a particular economic model of intensive agricultural production and by specific structures of distribution and retail of agricultural products. 1 It is in such a context that we must consider the creation of a specific and distinct legal status of 'seasonal worker' in European law by virtue of the 2014 Seasonal Workers Directive (hereafter SWD). 2This article provides an analysis and a critical assessment of this new status by means of confronting European law with the actual economic and social practices of seasonal work in intensive agriculture, as they emerge from empirical work undertaken in one of the key 'enclaves' of agricultural production in the European Union, namelyThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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