The early harvest this year is aggravating the situation, with campsites and tourist accommodation being taken by storm on this part of the Pyrénées-Orientales coast, near the Spanish border.
Under a blazing sun, in sweat, the pickers leave the vines after their day’s work, from 06:00 to 14:00, due to the heat wave. “After eight hours of work, I only want one thing: to take a shower and a little shade,” says José Rueda, a 32-year-old man from Barcelona.
For seven years, like hundreds of young foreigners, he has come to harvest for three to four weeks in the vineyards of the Banyuls-Collioure cru.
“We are no longer allowed to enter the municipal campsite, because they want another type of client, he complains. We camp where we can, we sleep in the cars. We manage as we can. And next week , it’s going to be worse: a hundred pickers are coming”.
“This year, we were surprised by the earliness, it’s unheard of. We started harvesting this year on August 8, when there was the most tourism, we had started on the 20th in 2021”, testifies Thierry Parcé, owner of the Rectorie estate, whose vines overlook the Mediterranean, in the communes of Banyuls and Port-Vendres.
The vines being on a slope, the harvest is done by hand in this vineyard.
“Municipalities must make an effort to help us find decent reception solutions,” believes Thierry Parcé.
Karine Tartas, CGT manager of the departmental union of Pyrénées-Orientales, requests that the town hall provide municipal land with water and electricity, stressing that employers are ready to finance the rental of mobile toilets.
“A minimum of dignity,” adds Luana Graziano, a 23-year-old Sicilian who is making her third harvest season.
In Banyuls-sur-Mer, the campsite has welcomed seasonal workers for several years, with financial participation from employers.
“Accommodate them at the campsite? It’s full”, pleads the mayor Michel Solé, in any case reluctant, because of “nuisance, damage” during the last stay of the grape pickers.
“Employers should take their responsibilities”, underlines the elected official, who says he is “ready to help”.
