Filling the Sink

Fruit pickers and street vendors – migrants' struggle for decent work


Listen Later

Many migrants to Catalonia from lower-income countries find themselves doing precarious summer work, such as harvesting fruit in the fields around Lleida, or selling goods on the streets of Barcelona and other cities.  

Serigne Mamadou, a seasonal worker from Senegal, Llibert Reixach, from the Fruita and Justícia Social seasonal workers' rights group and Jaume Pedrós of the Unió de Pagesos farmers union give their perspectives on whether the situation for fruit harvesters has improved since last year, when Covid-19 outbreaks and images of workers sleeping rough hit the headlines. 

Xènia Palau visits the Top Manta shop and factory, set up by the street vendors' union as a way to provide legitimate work and sell their own brands of clothes and shoes. Papalaye and Lamine explain the challenges of working as a street seller (or manter in Catalan after the blankets where they display their wares) and the success and strength of the shop and union. 

Cristina Tomàs White and Guifré Jordan join Lorcan Doherty to put these stories in the wider context of immigration, racism, the economy, policing and social policy. 

This week's Catalan phrase is 'amb una sabata i una espardenya,' literally, with a shoe and an espadrille, which is a type of traditional Catalan rope-soled summer shoe. It means to get by with what you've got. 

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Filling the SinkBy catalannews

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

11 ratings


More shows like Filling the Sink

View all
Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

400 Listeners

En guàrdia! by Catalunya Ràdio

En guàrdia!

16 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,782 Listeners

L'ofici de viure by Catalunya Ràdio

L'ofici de viure

16 Listeners

La competència - Programa sencer by RAC1

La competència - Programa sencer

51 Listeners

Witness History by BBC World Service

Witness History

963 Listeners

Nadie Sabe Nada by SER Podcast

Nadie Sabe Nada

434 Listeners

Crims by Catalunya Ràdio

Crims

49 Listeners

L'hora negra, amb Mayka Navarro by Catalunya Ràdio

L'hora negra, amb Mayka Navarro

4 Listeners

La Sotana by La Sotana

La Sotana

14 Listeners

La Ruina by La Ruina

La Ruina

56 Listeners

Un Libro Una Hora by SER Podcast

Un Libro Una Hora

223 Listeners

Estirando el chicle by Podium Podcast

Estirando el chicle

87 Listeners

El búnquer by Catalunya Ràdio

El búnquer

34 Listeners

Thinking in English by Thomas Wilkinson

Thinking in English

96 Listeners