Precarious labor geographies in globalized agriculture. Feminization, ethnicity and migrations

Abstract

This article analyzes different modalities that the wage inclusion of seasonal workers acquires in the temporary
agricultural work of fruits and vegetables. It highlights geographic mobility, border spaces and labor transit, the
feminization process, of different origins, migrations and transmigrations of the labor force in the production of
fresh fruits and vegetables. The problem raises concerns about the consequences of employment for workers in
the globalized intensive agriculture, knowing that territorial displacements over variable distances produce long
workings hours and poor working conditions, which leads to typify this work as precarious employment. We dig
into different countries’ realities to show that, despite the different levels of development, globalized agriculture
operates under similar conditions in several cases, this is, homogenizing the use of local and foreign labor force,
feminine and masculine and indigenous, who hardly count with any social rights in a scenario that manifests in
how rar the deprivation of rights is an expression of the new social issue imposed by “globalization from below”
(Tarrius, 2007). The study is based on numerous investigations on seasonal workers in Chile that the author has
carried out within the framework of Fondecyt projects.