Faced with the debate sparked by the regularization of migrants, mainly those employed in the fields of Chile, the president of the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile, Fedefruta, Víctor Catán, says that "today our main focus is the regularization of foreign workers carrying out temporary work in fruit growing, which should not be confused with a regularization of foreigners resident in Chile."
In this regard, Catán says that "the demand for work in fruit harvesting is greater than the supply of Chilean nationals, therefore, some jobs can't be covered with Chilean labor. In fruit growing, those jobs are carried out mainly by Bolivian nationals, who are good willing and work in the harvest or in early tasks, such as the thinning. They only come to do those tasks and later they return to their country."
Catán says that what the fruit growers' union wants is social security. "There are a number of areas in which we want improvements when it comes to labor formality."
Lastly, and responding to the latest statements made by Congressman Andrés Longton, he says: "We don't have cheap labor or anything like that; it is a competitive job. I would say that the average earnings of a worker easily exceed $30,000 a day, but it all needs to be formalized."
For more information: www.fedefruta.cl