On 14th January, the workers of the British company Fresh Tom Export in Almería (South Spain), a vegetable grower and trading company specialising in tomato crops, decided by almost unanimous vote to go on indefinite strike.
On Tuesday 19th January, the workers started the strike officially and it has been massively followed since then. The workers declare they will remain on strike until their wages are increased and updated to the current minimum wage. In addition, they are demanding the rights recognised in previous agreement: seniority and transport bonuses, as well as permanent contracts for temporary workers. It should be pointed that this agreement, which dates from 2015, expired two years ago, and they are also demanding the negotiation of a new one.
The workers have stated that they will continue picketing at the entrance of the company’s warehouse for the duration of the strike, respecting the anti-Covid safety measures.
Despite the fact that the strike at Fresh Tom Export is legally called and the social distancing measures have been thoroughly followed, they have been continuously harassed by the bosses and their guard dogs in the infamous Guardia Civil. With this struggle, the workers are simply defending their rights, which obviously remain unclear both for the bosses and police forces.
In spite of everything, they remain firm in their convictions and struggle. They shall not pass! Enough is enough!
They need international support for their struggle, the same struggle that workers all over the world are fighting, from India to South America.
Any form of support will be welcome, from videos or pictures sending your solidarity to them (fieldworkerssolidarity@protonmail.com), sharing this information widely or putting pressure on the company here in the UK. Fresh Tom Export operates in Ireland, United Kingdom and other European countries through a distribution company called Cortés LTD. Let them know that workers solidarity has no borders!
You can also show your solidarity by sending your complaints to the company and let them know that the workers in Almeria are not alone.
An injury to one is an injury to all!
In Spain: info@freshtomexport.com administracion@freshtomexport.com In UK: CORTÉS LTD (Cobham, KT11 3BW) 0208 399 3231 cortes@cortesltd.co.uk
Image via SOC-SAT Almería.
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