Title: TOMAS : Training Opportunities for Migrants in the Agrifood Sector

Programme: Erasmus+

Key Action: KA220-VET – Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training

Agreement No.: 2021-1-IT01-KA220-VET-000028189

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Description

A study conducted by the Foundation FAI CISL studies and research on the situation of migrants in 2018 showed that the life of migrants within Europe has worsened. In 2020, FAI CISL organized an event “Regeneration: for the person, for the future, for agri-food work” where it deepened and tried to interpret the complexity of the historical moment we are facing, to reflect on the future role of industrial relations, innovating the ways of representation and protection of workers. As a trade union, our commitment is aimed at stimulating active participation and consolidate democratic processes, such as European values, rights, protections for the individual. This is a project of awareness with which the consortium can express a projectuality, a long-term vision, deepened by knowledge, training, and confrontation, this is the philosophy of the TOMAS project. This meta-historical vision allows to conciliate cultural, technical, and professional training in a multicultural and intercultural context; to make possible a relationship of esteem, enrichment, and valorization of the knowledge of “other” cultures. The agri-food sector is the largest manufacturing sector in the European Union, both in terms of turnover and number of active companies. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, labor shortages show that EU agriculture depends heavily on migrant workers, who make up a significant percentage of those who harvest our fruits and vegetables, as well as handle the packaging and processing of our food. The agrifood sector is thus widely characterized by intercultural variety, where different ethnic groups coexist and work together. They have little or nothing in common from a cultural point of view and face several challenges to integrate into the host country as well as to create work integration bridges into each other’s community. The TOMAS project builds on this specific challenge that is arising in the agricultural sector in various EU countries, which is the creation of ethnic groupings, small communities, that specialize in a particular sector of agriculture, without real intercultural or inter-community integration and cooperation. This situation, as well as ethnic specializations, do not favor the process of integration in the agrifood sector, because it does not help inter-relations between immigrant groups, as well as between them and local populations, but tends to create closed communities, similar to “ghettos”, within various territories. In this context, the TOMAS project turns its attention toward the issue of inter-community relations, which means the whole range of challenges and opportunities arising from the interaction between the ‘majority population’ and various migrant or ethnic groups that interact in the agrifood sector and beyond. Thus, our activities are aimed not only at migrants/refugees but also at workers of the agrifood sector in general, as well as, indirectly, at the entire population. We do not wish to focus, therefore, on migrants/refugees as a problematic group on their own, but on the interaction between different groups or communities that, combined, form our whole society. Positive intercultural relations in the agrifood sector will bring benefits to our target groups, by fostering a process of self-empowerment, resilience, and positive societal engagement, allowing them to cultivate a stronger sense of belonging and to become more active citizens of their (new) communities (EaSI, 2019); it will also bring benefits to the sector in general, by fostering its performance, modernization, and social inclusion. The project partners involved in the TOMAS project have been working for years on issues of inclusion and diversity, with innovative approaches, so they have excellent expertise on the issues covered by the project. Together, we share the opportunity to cooperate to develop a project for workers of different nationalities in the agri-food sector, with a focus on migrant/refugee workers.

Partners:

Fai Cisl nazionale (Coordinator)

Rezos Brands Anonymi Emporiki Eteria Idon Diatrofis (Beneficiary)

Asociacija “Aktyvus jaunimas”

Trade Union of workers from the agro-industrial complex of Republic of Macedonia – Agro-Sindikat

ANOLF Cuneo

Global Sosial Utvikling

FEDERATION OF DEMOCRATIC TRADE UNIONS IN AGRICULTURE AND RELATED SERVICES