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Is El Ejido Europes New Apartheid?

The Immigrant Workers Generosity

The Moroccan immigrant workers suspended their original 5 day strike on the conditions of an agreement on 12 February that would see those made homeless from the racist violence indemnified and housed. The deadline for implementing the agreement fell last Friday, 25 February. Despite evident disputes on the Moroccan side, and after negotiations including labour representatives, it was decided to give the government and the employers more time to deliver on their promises. The Moroccan immigrants will continue working until 14 March, meeting in the meantime to review their most urgent demands on 10 March. Whether this generosity from the workers will be reciprocated remains an open question.

For example, Juan Cotino Director General of the Police visited El Ejido last Wednesday, for the second time since the workers\\\\\\\\' strike. He confirmed that the extra deployment of 600 members of the National Police Body and the Guardia Civil will continue for up to 6 months. The cost of this operation has not been reported, but it must be considerable. And considerably more than the 3 million pesetas (1) so far paid out in indemnities (a sum that is less than the annual profit of just one invernadero). The police are being housed in hotels in the coastal resort of Aguadulce, far better \\\\\\\\'emergency accommodation\\\\\\\\' than that provided for the homeless immigrants.

Moreover there has been a clarification on the dimensions of the first prefabricated hut provided out of state funds. Its floor size is in fact 2.35 metres by 6 metres, that is 14 square metres; and the number of immigrants expected to stay in it is in fact six. Hence the average space will be less than two and a half square meters per person, much less than the four and a half square metres I reported previously. The first 22 huts will lodge 170 immigrant workers, sleeping in bunks. They have been referred to as barracoons in Spanish (El Pais 24 February), the same term that was used for the pens holding captives on the West African coast before their passage into slavery in the Americas. This temporary accommodation will not be for the homeless, it will be to service the working immigrants in hostels remarkably similar to those used for single African men providing cheap labour under the apartheid system. As yet this is the only new accommodation announced.

My two earlier reports have received a criticism for not being objective and including the point of view of the employers and the local population. Partly for that reason, but more for its facts and the attitudes that it reveals, I am including in full translation a feature article that appeared this weekend in El Correo, a regional paper, followed by my analysis of the basic economic class relation.

(1) That is £11,152. All conversions from pesetas to £ sterling will be made at the current rate of 269 pesetas to £1, then rounded.

"Crisis in the Orchard of Europe

IntroductionWest Almería, El Poniente, is one of the richest agricultural zones in the whole of Andalucía. 30% of Andalucía\\\\\\\\'s total agricultural output is produced under the plastic hothouses in this one district. Good prospects were the reason that so many crossed the sea in search of a dream. But the island of plastic brought them back to reality. The dream was no more than simply an illusion.

Main Story - An Island of Plastic in the DesertThe sea in Almería does not only reach the beaches, it comes up to the mountains which have for decades witnessed the boom of horticulture in the countryside around Dalías, and the improvised refuge of hundreds, thousands of immigrants with just one dream: to live.

The more than 30,000 hectares of plastic that there are in West Almería are an artificial extension of the Meditarrean which bathes the coastline of eastern Andalucia. At the moment there are 17,000 working units in Roquetas de Mar, Puebla de Vícar, El Ejido and La Mojonera, towns born in the shadow of the invernaderos [hothouses], that today shelter an immigrant community of more than 20,000 people, half of them of Moroccan origin. The rest are Senegalese, Ukrainians and, to a lesser extent, Russians.

After the recent xenophobic events in El Ejido, the Almerían farmers have closed ranks. The say that they are tired of always being the ones who "take the blame". "We are not racists nor are we slave traders", affirms categorically Eduardo López, genereal secretary of the COAG in Almería. But in the Dalías countryside illegality is part of daily life. From the mafias, as much Moroccan as well as Spanish, to those sin papeles [without documents], West Almería is now suffering the consequences of an excessive and uncontrolled economic growth.

The average area of an invernadero is between one and two hectares, and an average of 1.5 workers works there permanently, with up to 10 workers at certain points such as for the harvest or for maintenance tasks. At the moments of greatest tension in El Ejido, some employers warned that there was a surplus of 30,000 immigrants, a point that Eduardo López roundly denies. The district agreement is for a minimum wage of 4,944 pesetas [£18.38] a day, a figure that the associations of immigrant workers assure is never met. Hannaffi Hanza, spokesman of ATIME, says that the monthly wage is about 50 to 60,000 pesetas [£186 to £223]. "How can anyone live on this?" he asks. "These conditions", adds Mustafa, from the Association of Immigrants in Spain (AEME), are not exclusive to the immigrant workers, "the Spanish also suffer from them". On the other side, the employers defend themselves arguing that nobody pays less than 3,900 pesetas [£14.50] a day and "only for people who have started working and, therefore, have to learn", adds López.

Immigrant but Well Educated90% of the workers in the invernaderos are immigrant labour. Some have managed to become the foreman of their unit ("many" according to the employers) but the majority are just labourers. Yet well educated ones. Doctors, philologists, mining engineers ... "My workers earn about 130,000 pesetas a month, except the foreman who gets 200,000 because he does everything", says Juan Miguel Peña, farmer and president of the Geosur co-operative.

According to calculations from the sector, an invernadero generates around 40 million pesetas a year, from which the cost of the crop treatments (some 20 million) is deducted, and there is a net income for the farmer of 15 million. The rest - 5 million - is divided between the labour costs; that is Social Security, taxes and wages.

"I stopped depending on the morenos [darkies], as we call them around here, because they didn\\\\\\\\'t work well. I have been working with black people for four years. The ones that work, good. There are [other] legal, good people and besides, nobody likes to work with the Mahgrebis. They are not trusted." This comment, from Juan Miguel Peña, is not an isolated one. Labour problems, and those of whatever other nature (social, educational) in the Almerían countryside, are concentrated on the Moroccan community.

Yolanda, an Almerian, is the wife of Mustafa, a Moroccan. None of the above would seem new to them since they live in El Ejido and have both been victims of racist violence. "The problem started when the locals felt their social status was being threatened. Some Moroccans had prospered and had opened their own bars, like my husband\\\\\\\\'s, supermarkets and butchers, and this is what they couldn\\\\\\\\'t stand. They want them [the Moroccans] to stay outside the town and without prospects. Years ago, when there were fewer, they were able to exploit them, but not now. They are a big community and they are starting to demand their rights", Yolanda explains.

But not everything is at odds between the immigrants and the farmers. Both concur that the solution lies in putting and end to lawlessness. "If when a farmer needs work hands all that is available is illegal, then he is pushed into committing an offence", affirms López. While there are still illegals, the Almerían countryside will not be able to pass on from the blackest chapter of it history.

Carlota Muñoz, El Correo de Andalucía, 27 February 2000.

El Poniente, In Figures

Area: 35,000 HectaresOperations: 17,000 hothousesProfits: A hothouse makes 40 million pesetas (£149,000) income annuallyWages: £480 a month for a worker; £740 for a foreman.Immigrants: 20,000 people. 50% Moroccans and the rest Senegalese, Ukrainians and Russians.

Immigrants are the Principle LabourLabour is fundamentally immigrant, above all Moroccan, in the Almerían countryside. The boom in the horticultural sector at the beginning of the 1990s coincided with the massive arrival of immigrants."

Analysis of the Economic RelationThe above article allows us to recreate a picture of a typical business in West Almeria, El Poniente.

The foreman is normally, although not always, Spanish. Since immigrant workers are 90% of the workforce let us suppose a work team of one Spanish foreman and 9 immigrants; that is 10 waged workers employed to run three invernaderos owned by one boss. The number of workers will vary through the year, they will have different capacities and individuals will come and go, so it is clear that we are here considering the average units of labour power also averaged over time.

Suppose the immigrant worker receives 4,000 pesetas a day for working a basic 8 hours. He works a six day week, and since on average in a month there are 4 1/3 weeks or 26 working days, each worker would be paid 26 x 4,000 = 104,000 pesetas monthly. But if the worker works overtime, paid pro rata to his 8 hours, and thus receives 4,500 pesetas for a 9 hour working day, he will be paid 26 x 4,500 = 117,000 pesetas a month. This assumed monthly wage is much higher than the 50-60,000 reported by the immigrant associations, closer to the 130,000 claimed by the employers. In any event the immigrant worker is paid the equivalent of 500 pesetas (less than £2) for each hour worked.

According to the employers, the foreman earns just over half as much again. On average his pay might be 7,700 pesetas a day or 26 x 7,700 = 200,200 pesetas a month.

Thus the combined daily wage is 9 x 4,500 plus 1 x 7,700 = 48,200 pesetas; the combined monthly wage is 48,200 x 26 = 1,253,200 pesetas; and the combined annual wage is 12 x 1,253,200 = 15,038,400 pesetas or, in round figures, 15 million pesetas; which corresponds to the average of 5 million pesetas for each of the three invernaderos.

The annual output of each invernadero is sold for 40 million pesetas, which is split into three parts: 20 million costs of production; 5 million for labour costs and 15 million is profit. On the employers\\\\\\\\' own figures the production process generates three times more for themselves than they pay their workers. The patron with three invernaderos is thus making a profit of 45 million pesetas while paying his workers just 15 million pesetas.

What has his initial capital outlay been? We have not been provided with enough information to be sure what the full investment is . What we are told is that for each invernadero there are 25 million pesetas spent annually on the costs of production (material costs plus labour costs), from which an average profit of 15 million pesetas can be extracted; that is an annual profit rate of 15 / 25 = 60%. No wonder that El Poniente is known as the land of gold!

In our example of a patron running three invernaderoes, the annual profit will be 45 million pesetas (£167, 286) on an outlay of 75 million pesetas (£278,810). Compare his income with the annual income of the immigrant. Most of the workers cannot work continually in the conditions for health reasons, and moreover they need to take extended time off to visit their families. Suppose that the immigrant worker manages to work an average of 8 months out of 12; then his annual income will be 117,000 x 8 = 936,000 pesetas (£3,480). On these figures, the average income of a boss is 48 times greater than that of an immigrant worker.

But the goldmine needs its miners. Who is it doing the work, who is producing the crops and whose labour is it that generates the profits? On the one hand the 20 million material costs of production are constant through the process, the supplies and equipment are bought and their costs are then passed on and realised as part of the crop\\\\\\\\'s final selling price. On the other hand, all of the other 20 million that is split in the ratio of 3 to 1 between the patron and his workers comes from the workers\\\\\\\\' labour. The workforce are adding value worth 20 million pesetas every year, but they only get paid 5 million pesetas. In other words, every hour that the labourer works he produces three times as much for the boss as he gets paid. The rate of exploitation is 300%.

Most probably the figures understate the real degree of exploitation. The inclusion of Social Security payments and taxes as labour costs is misleading. Firstly, regularised immigrant workers make their own Social Security payments out of their wage - over 8,000 pesetas a month. Secondly, about half of the immigrant workers are not regularised and Social Security is not paid. Thirdly, the character and the extent of the tax component is unclear. Taxes should be treated as an element deducted from the surplus value, they are paid to the state for such things as policing. If we hypothesise a movement of 1 million between the categories of labour costs and profits, this leaves annual wage costs of 4 million and pre-tax profits of 16 million per invernadero, then we can see that at 4:1, or 400% the real rate of exploitation is even higher.

According to the El Correo article there are 17,000 invernaderoes in El Poniente, thus generating an annual net profit of at least 85,000 million pesetas (£316 million) in the district. In addition there are all the agricultural suppliers; fruit packing, distribution and transport companies; and the plastic factories all of which are sharing in the bonanza. The town of El Ejido enjoys the third highest income per head in Spain.

ConclusionsUnder the invernadero plastic hothouses, intensive farming technology has been systematically wedded to intense labour exploitation and oppressive conditions, that is super-exploitation of the immigrant workforce.

Profits at an average rate of 60% are bound to attract big capital into the sector. Expected future profits will be capitalised as rents or shares as the capital is socialised. The individual bosses will have to work together as producer \\\\\\\\'co-operatives\\\\\\\\', or else sell up. The moves to regularise the workforce are likely to speed up the centralisation of agricultural capital into bigger, more powerful units. Hence the real problem is not the legalisation, that is \\\\\\\\'regularisation\\\\\\\\' of the immigrant workers as such, but overcoming the oppressive conditions, whether illegal or legal, whether regularised or not. Legalised super-exploitation of the immigrant workforce will not solve their problems.

The term apartheid is not so out of place, for this set-up is an engine for ruthlessly generating profits at the expense of human rights, as systematic as that underlying the former regime in South Africa. And, like the apartheid system before it, the bags of invernadero gold buy a broad alliance of collaboration, breeding racial enmities and corruption of all sorts.

Andy Higginbottom1 March 2000