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Greeks Shun Strawberry Fields Forever

strawberryNot a single Greek has applied for work in strawberry fields in Manolada, the region where immigrants said they were attacked by their bosses after demanding back pay. A total of 116 farmers said they needed 4,648 workers and would pay 25 euros a day ($32.54) for six hours work, or about$5.42 per hour before taxes.
That is 20 cents an hour above the minimum wage, but despite a crushing economic crisis and a record 27.4 percent unemployment, Greeks are not interested in picking strawberries, a job left often to illegal immigrants who complain they are exploited and often go unpaid and are abused.
Government officials said the problem apparently is that Greeks aren’t willing to work for such a low wage under harsh conditions picking fruit. There are an estimated 5,000 workers in the region, all of them immigrants, an estimated 90 percent of whom are reportedly in the country unlawfully and can’t be found by police ordered to round them up as part of a plan to deport all foreigners in the country illegally.
After the assault against immigrants in Manolada a few months ago, farmers turned to looking for Greeks to do the work. ‘Very few unemployed people responded to the applications and as a result, the problem for the new growing season is becoming more intense, not just in Ilia but all around Greece,” one official said.
Deputies made a series of questions to government officials concerning the lack of applications submitted to the OAED unemployment office, including what’s going to be done about it.
“What actions do you intend to make, especially the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food, in order to secure the continuity of the production of products, such as strawberry, which are exported abroad by 90 percent, strengthening in that way the national economy?” the deputies concluded.

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