FRANCESCA COMMISSARI | Romania: there and back

ROMANIA: THERE AND BACK

Romania joined the European Union in 2007 and since then the province of Ragusa has witnessed the arrival of an influx of workers from this neo-European country. In 2006 in Vittoria there were around 9000 farming workers, of whom only 36 were Romanian; in 2007 this number grew to 1166. In effect, if in a first stage the foreign labor force was predominantly of Maghreb origin, with the entrance of Romania in the European Union this has changed and Romanian is now the prevailing nationality.

The availability of a workforce at a lower price and the convenience of the residence permits have facilitated the replacement of the North African labor force with the Romanian crews. Currently, it is the latter that is mostly used in the farming sector in the greenhouses of the Fascia Trasformata (the territory between the city of Vittoria, Santa Croce Camerina and Acate).

The female labor force has first started to be employed in the greenhouses since the arrival of the Romanian community. Women work at the same pace and develop the same tasks as men. Many of these people work without contracts and once they enter the Fascia TrasformataSystem they disappear, becoming literally invisible. The word “System” indicates a circuit, a structure that works according to specific dynamics and rules, bad rules that are not written. A closed circuit from which it is truly difficult to get out: the worker´s life is defined by the same actions, that begin and end at the workplace.

The socio-cultural context of Romania (and particularly the regions from which Romanian workers at the greenhouses of Ragusa come from), is a self-subsistence economy often accompanied by cultural backwardness. The motivation that pushes Romanians to emigrate is to save money to provide for their family and children; to have the opportunity to give them a more dignified future.

One of the reasons why this community decides to migrate is the dream of building a house in Romania, something that cannot be afforded back home with the scant Romanian wages. The realization of this dream implies an incessant movement back and forth from Romania to Italy (usually once a year), causing a split between the family, the cultural and the social context, and the life at the fields, that ends in the work context.

Lili And Petru

Lili and Petru are Romanian and come from the region of Botosani. Before the fall of the fall of the Ceausescu government, they occupied public positions. With the crisis, they lost their jobs and they had to consider the possibility of migrating. Lili and Petru have lived and worked for fours years in Sicily in the Vittoria countryside where they are employed in the greenhouses. They decided to migrate to adress thw financial difficulties due to bank debts and to provide financial help to the family, particularly to support parent's medical care. They decided to migrate to Sicily and work in the greenhouses of the province of Ragusa so that they could stay together. They have changed many employers because they did not draw up regular contracts and sometimes did not fully settle their wages. Their main wish is to save money to build a house in Romania and finally return to live in their home country.

Nicoleta

Nicoleta Bolos lives since she was an 18-year-old girl in Sicily, and has always worked in the greenhouses. At first, she came with her first husband. He forced her to have sex with the owners of the farming company where they worked. If she did not agree he hit her. In addition, the fear of losing her job made her endure night of abuse and violence.

At the and Nicoleta found the courage to leave her husband. Now he has another companion, Alberto, and with him she continues working in the fields of the province of Ragusa. She has two children with him. Many times, they have had to change place of work because the entrepreneurs tried to abuse her. In the last job, upon discovering that she was pregnant, they told her that if she did not abort, they would fire her.

Nicoleta and Alberto have found the courage to report.