- From agriculture and livestock it is often heard that the profession is "very tied", that there are no holidays or holidays. The Onetik and Etxaldia gas stations of Ipar Euskal Herria, in collaboration with the Milk Cooperatives of Berria and Aldude, have launched a project to guarantee vaccines to farmers. “A reflection has been made in gas stations on how to help, how to improve the working conditions of farmers, and so has been the service to replace the sunshine of workers,” said Antton Etxeberri, an animator between gasnategi Onetik and farmers.
In the departments of the French State, the farm replacement service had already been set up, but more than for holidays it was intended to cover casualties and illnesses. “If the farmer is ill, he can call the said service to request a worker to replace him. A contract of employment is made for the new worker, and although at the time it is paid by the farm, later, through state subsidies, the farmer will only have to contribute three or four of the 22 euros per hour,” Etxeberri explained.
However, in the case of inadequacies, State aid pays a much smaller part, and much of the wage of the worker who is to be replaced in order to enjoy the holidays was paid by the labourers. “We enter the gas stations here, putting some money to pay for vaccines, so farmers don’t have to pay anything,” he says. For the time being, farmers in cooperatives will be able to enjoy ten days of holiday a year – 72 hours – without having to put anything out of their pocket. “The only ones will be complemented by the help of the French State and the share paid by the gas stations,” added Etxeberri. The 230 farms that are part of both cooperatives have the possibility to enjoy their holidays, while the work of their mansion will be carried out by staff of the department's representation system.
Attracting young people to agriculture
“Farmers also need social life, leaving the house to do other things and remove the mental burden,” says Etxeberri. Looking to younger generations, the animator of Gasnategi considers it essential to improve working conditions: “Gasnategis need peasants, and how are we going to make it 20 years from now to have gas, to have milk? If you're proposing a sunny job, maybe young people are going to go somewhere else looking for a job."
The project has gone beyond the holiday guarantee bag: in addition to the holidays, to accompany farms throughout the year, several farmers have joined together and staff have been recruited, with the help of the departments and gas stations. “In the Baigorri area, eight farmers have joined together and have hired a year-round worker, who works on eight farms, alternately, with a plan.” Four other teams such as Baigorri have been formed in several districts. “With this system, five jobs have been created throughout the year,” Etxeberri concluded.