In 2022, ACT carried out 36 checks on Douro farms and removed 19 administrative offenses.

In 2022, the Labor Department conducted 36 inspection visits to Douro farms and filed 19 misdemeanor cases, resulting in the identification of 410 workers, the Department of Labor said in response to the PCP.

The Communist Party of Portugal has requested, through Parliament, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security on the situation of agricultural workers in the Douro demarcation region.

The PCP said in a statement this Wednesday that much of the agricultural work on Douro’s large farms is “carried out by seasonal workers hired from subcontractors,” noting that “the insecurity of these workers’ jobs is justified by the argument that contracts are of very short duration.”

As such, he considered that “violation of workers’ rights is commonplace, such as being out of work and obligatory social security discounts, not complying with legal regulations regarding wages, working hours and safety conditions. “.

And it was in this context, the party stressed, that the PKP parliamentary group asked the Ministry of Labor and Social Security questions about the inspection activities carried out on farms in the Douro demarcation region.

The answer now received, according to the Communists, “was instructive and proves how widespread these practices are.”

According to the ministry, “The Department of Working Conditions (ACT) reported 36 inspection visits in 2022 on farms in the Douro demarcation region, resulting in 19 misdemeanor cases involving 410 workers. “.

Lusa has attempted to obtain further clarification on these data from ACT, which has so far been unsuccessful.

The PCP also questioned the measures it intends to “take to protect workers’ rights” in relation to practices such as “high instability and wage discrimination between men and women.”

In response, the ministry introduced a “Decent Work Agenda” that would establish “a public registry of companies providing external services for the appointment and deployment of workers in the agricultural sector, and a commitment to conduct weekly registration of transferred workers.” temporary work companies or outsourced services on farms.”

However, for the PCP Regional Organization of Vila Real (DORVIR) “neither the Decent Work Agenda nor the “list of companies” will change the reality marked by the fact that even in this environment, men and women receive different wages for equal work, for non-compliance secular holidays, instability of the situation, low wages and high exploitation.

The PKP also questioned the Government about the situation of a group of Timorese citizens who were working in the Douro demarcation area and who were allegedly “left to their own devices” by the agricultural contractor who hired them, who left them homeless and without financial means to guarantee their existence or return home.

The answer to this question was given by the Ministry of the Interior, which clarified that on December 2, 2022, the GNR territorial post in Peso da Régua registered an incident in the parking lot of a hypermarket involving nine people of foreign nationality, all with a good reputation in the national territory.

The guardianship also reported that, in cooperation with the Chamber of Peso da Regua and the Social Security Service, “these citizens were sent to register at the Employment and Vocational Training Center and were guaranteed urgent accommodation and meals at the hotel.”

Currently, the ministry added, through the Center for Employment and Vocational Training, “they carry out agricultural work under a legal contract with an agricultural contractor who is guaranteed decent housing, pre-screened by the social security services of Peso da Régua. “.

For PKP’s DORVIR, “there is a need to value labor and protect workers’ rights by strengthening the means of the ACT and giving executive power to the judgmental decisions it makes.”

And it is also necessary to lay on “farms and estates that receive the product of the labor of workers, the responsibility for the implementation of the rights of those who work there.”