Entrepreneurs cite several factors: lack of jobs among young people, practically no generational change, differences in business ethics between former workers close to retirement and those belonging to the new party, the difficulty of farm work. same: Galician wineries difficulties finding a professional for the time nostalgic. Naturally, it’s a key time for the industry and the lack of workers is a big mess for companies.
“The elderly stopped working,” said Lisa Vázquez. Godeval Wineries. “Years ago, we had about 50 workers; We put up 50 ads this year, and five of them responded to us,” he complains. “The pitch is very difficult, we have to admit, but we pay good money and offer good conditions,” he says. Vázquez explains that the problem is “eight years.” With the financial crisis, “people rained down. Already in May they began to call me. But since then, people have withdrawn,” he says.
The matter of history, yes, goes by neighborhoods. Where different firms are consulted is the beginning of the loss of workers involved in the harvest at different times. But the president of the Galician Agricultural Society (Asaga), Francisco Bello tells this paper that the problem began to be noticed in 2018 and 2019. “There’s more of a problem as the Department of Labor is starting to do more inspections, and that’s discouraging many who are dedicated to it. “People in the countryside got older and students were less,” he explains. University students were one of the groups that traditionally devoted themselves to the harvest just before the start of the academic year, to have extra money or to help their families.
“The problem is getting worse and worse,” warns Juan Vázquez. Bodegas Martin Kodaks. As a result, he sees the situation positively: “Fortunately, this means that hotel staff are still working at the end of August and are not unemployed.” This group is another of those historically devoted to the grape harvest, which begins when the high summer season ends. Vázquez chooses to “dedramatise” and assures that, despite being aware that the situation is a problem, he: in no case does it mean a loss of efficiency or business volume. “The work that was previously done in one week is now done in three weeks,” he explains. And while she’s faced such difficulties in finding workers, she says she’s never under-staffed as she makes up for the shortage of traditional professionals with the staff she hires through temporary employment agencies. He guarantees that he has a staff of 500, especially among those who have his own winery and his own vineyards.
Javier Pelaez Marquess of Vizhojachoose another method. “We are making raids by hanging posters. Because I travel a lot, people call me every year,” he celebrates. Of course, if it took you 10 days to find the template you need; now it says it took a month.
Production model change
Bello says it started to be brought in from Portugal to fill the labor shortage, but even that was “increasingly complicated by regulations and bureaucracy.” He also assures that “job reform has not helped as many of these jobs are seasonal.” It also affects the increase in SMI, he says, because the benefits of space have diminished “needless to say that they sometimes work at a loss.”
For Bello, the future comes from the mechanization of harvesting and 10,000 workers he calculates that it was harvested in Galicia. “There are large wineries already doing this, but the technology still needs to evolve because at this time the grapes can be damaged,” he explains.
Temporary employment agencies to save wine
The shortage of workers explained by entrepreneurs in the wine industry is in most cases compensated by applying to temporary employment agencies (ETTs), which become the bubble of oxygen these companies need during a crucial season. Some of these ETTs, such as Nortempo or Synergie, note that they don’t have major barriers to finding professionals to fill needed positions, but there are others who perceive the same shortfall affecting wineries. This is the case of Eurofirms. “We are experiencing difficulties this year; Vanessa Fernández of the company’s office in Vilagarcía de Arousa tells FARO it’s something that happened last year. Fernández attributes this lack of staff to the fact that “there has been a significant rebound in the market” for winemaking, which means increasing demand for professionals, which proportionally increases the difficulty of finding them. While he chooses not to say how many workers companies are asking for this season, he still reassures wineries that they can cover any employee they want, despite the biggest hurdles in the past few years.