Managers of farms in Gard and Bouches-du-Rhône, who used his services to recruit employees, in particular for fruit picking in summer, were at the same time sentenced to fines for "concealed work ".

And one of them received a suspended prison sentence for having housed these seasonal workers for years in more than deplorable conditions.

The temporary work company based in Murcia (southern Spain), now renamed Work for All, had been the subject of a report to the Nîmes prosecutor's office in 2014 because it claimed to use seasonal workers. according to the rules of temporary posting in force in the European Union.

But it achieved a good part of its 50 million annual turnover in France, without having made the necessary social and tax declarations.

In total, between 2012 and 2015, the Spanish group provided more than 26,000 employees, mostly South Americans, to various French farms.

They were largely deprived of their overtime pay, forced to work up to 70 hours a week for some.

In July 2021, she was sentenced for this by the Marseille Criminal Court, which fined her 500,000 euros.

Its three Spanish leaders, Juan Jose Lopez Pacheco, his brother Francisco and Celedenio Perea Coll, had been sentenced to four years in prison suspended and fined 100,000 euros.

Terra Fecundis was again tried last month, this time by the criminal court of Nîmes (Gard), for similar facts concerning the period December 2017-October 2018.

On April 1, she was fined 375,000 euros, according to the text of the judgment obtained by AFP on Monday.

She was also permanently banned from carrying out any activity related to temporary work in France.

The leaders of the Spanish company were not prosecuted.

"Disgusting, repulsive, indescribable"

On the other hand, the managers of seven French partner farms were also on the dock.

They all received fines ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 euros, including a suspended variable part, for "concealed work" and "illegal employment of foreign workers".

One of the managers, who notably owned a place nicknamed "El Carcel" (the prison, in Spanish) by the South American workers, was also given a six-month suspended prison sentence.

On one of the sites he operated, consisting of a solid building and 11 mobile homes set up in the open field, the labor inspectors had noted that the showers were in an "indescribable state of dirt", the "cabinets of 'comfort in a disgusting state' and the kitchens in a 'disgusting state of filth'.

On another of its sites, employees had explained that they could not sleep inside in the event of strong heat due to the absence of ventilation and the condemnation of the windows.

The labor inspectors, whose report was added to the criminal file, concluded that "the basic conditions of hygiene and comfort" were "not respected" and the living conditions "contrary to human dignity".

The CFDT union, which had filed a civil action alongside the CGT and FO in particular, welcomed the outcome of the Nîmes trial on Monday.

"It is obviously a very satisfactory new decision, since it drives the nail of the judgment of Marseille (with regard to Terra Fecundis) and that it condemns farmers", commented the lawyer of the union, Me Vincent Schneegans. .

"This should be a warning signal for agricultural companies", because it "concerns 5,000 employees per year in the south of France", he added.

Terra Fecundis was also singled out in 2020 for the poor accommodation conditions of its agricultural workers after the appearance of 258 cases of Covid among seasonal workers in Provence.

© 2022 AFP