“Take things you can get dirty. In the morning it is cold so bring a warm garment. And then take a good look at the weather forecast. It may rain some days. » This Monday, April 11, is the shot at the association Accompaniment migrant integration (AMI), in Nantes. Recruitment day for picking lily of the valley, often synonymous with the first work contract, paid at the gross hourly minimum wage (increased Sunday and public holidays), for foreigners with refugee status but who do not yet speak French fluently to apply for a wide range jobs. A ” bargain ” especially for asylum seekers who have recently entered the territory, who can claim a derogation from the prefect to accomplish this mission.
In fact, the harvesting of lily of the valley, which brings together about fifteen independent producers in the Pays de la Loire, established for the most part in Loire-Atlantique, suffers from a serious lack of manpower. Nearly 7,000 seasonal workers are mobilized at the height of the campaign. Said campaign is concentrated over a dozen days and ensures the production of 60 million strands, ie 85% of the national market and a turnover of at least 20 million euros.
Supervision of procedures
Proof of the tensions affecting the sector: the use of the employment of 16-year-old minors is validated. And the AMI association is therefore “mandated” to find 400 foreign seasonal workers. For the time being, recruitment “caps” at 240 people. A large majority of Eritreans, Sudanese and Guineans. Few Ukrainian nationals at this stage, often supported by another structure. For a time, Catherine Libault, president and founder of the AMI, believed that the authorities were going to strike out the action of her association in one fell swoop. At the beginning of April, the prefecture was dragging its feet on issuing work permits (the prefecture, questioned on this point, took refuge behind the “reserve period” because of the elections).
The principle of reality prevailed and AMI’s experience was recognised: because in addition to setting up coaches taking candidates to pick lily of the valley on farms, the association provides upstream supervision of the administrative procedures of candidates then the signing of the contracts, operates the constitution of the teams and selects the profiles inducted “heads of picking”.
“We feel that there are elections because the climate has considerably hardened, souffle Mme Libault. We had to fight to show that the producers lacked arms and that without foreigners, the job could not be done. » A race against time is engaged by the end of April. Especially since the lily of the valley, this year, is early.