Migrant workers play a pivotal role in the EU’s agri-food sector, from agriculture and food processing to hospitality and delivery services. Yet, they are frequently denied safe and dignified working conditions, facing irregularity, inequality, and exclusion in the workplace. In that context,
DignityFIRM aims to strengthen the working conditions of migrants experiencing irregularities in the Farm to Fork (F2F) labour markets of five EU member states (Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany) and two associated countries (Morocco and Ukraine).
Working across four policy domains – migration and mobility, social pillar rights, sustainability and food security, and corporate social responsibility – and by engaging stakeholders at the EU, national, and local levels, as well as migrant workers directly, the project aims to:
- Develop new knowledge on the factors shaping and defining the conditions and vulnerabilities of irregular migrants in F2F labour markets;
- Develop new knowledge on the division of labour in F2F labour markets along gender, health, ethnic and socio-economic lines, and gain a better understanding of the inequalities experienced by each;
- Propose group-sensitive policy measures across the four domains, at EU, national and local level;
- Provide tools and options to boost the dignified and rights-based inclusion of irregular migrants in the EU and focal countries, made in co-creation with relevant stakeholders and irregular migrants themselves.
The European Policy Centre will explore regulatory infrastructures in place at the EU level, which govern and shape the conditions and experiences of irregular migrants in F2F labour markets. At the same time, through four Stakeholder Network Meetings (SNMs), the EPC will facilitate an inclusive yet frank exchanges between stakeholders to better understand the interaction between the different infrastructures and how they shape F2F labour markets’ reliance on irregularly employed migrants, as well as their working conditions and integration prospects, including access to rights and social services.