Labor segregation in agricultural productions in Mendoza and Río Negro

Deepening inequalities in the pandemic context

Abstract

In this article we seek to highlight the incidence of the pandemic on seasonal agricultural workers, considering the contexts of origin and their strategies to move to distant places even during the pandemic; such as the historical conditions of precarious labor insertion in the places of destination. We are particularly interested in making visible the actions deployed by the producers of Cuyo and Patagonia to guarantee the necessary workforce under this particular context. The information we present was constructed from studies started more than 10 years ago in Mendoza and Río Negro, to analyze the presence of migrant workers in seasonal agricultural work, mainly in harvest activity, from ethnographic research approaches. We complement these journeys in the pandemic context from a triangulation of sources, which include monitoring the situation of the sector in the media and social networks, reviewing documents, participating in talks by specialists dealing with these issues, and interviews in depth through face-to-face, telephone or web-based talks. The results point to highlighting that, even when migrant workers became ‘indispensable / essential’ during the pandemic, the policies implemented were aimed at ensuring the availability of labor without modifying the historical precariousness in working conditions.