Young temporary migrants worried about losing exceptional work due to coronavirus

Work has become one of the biggest concerns for everyone, and even more so for all young temporary migrant workers who fear not being hired due to the health crisis brought on by the coronavirus. 

This is why La Vanguardia went to interview the young people who are part of the social program Cultiva i Educa in Gimenells (Lleida) as the main affected parties and took their statements. 

Below is part of the interview, and we leave the link to access it the full interview. 

“I need the contract, it's the most important thing to me. I arrived by boat from Morocco. I turned 18 last month, let's see if this deadline can be extended,” Soulayman says in Gimenells, the town of Lleida where he lives, in a dwelling in the Private Foundation for Agrarian Tutelage Work, in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Child and Adolescent Care (DGAIAin child care. It has a center in Lliçà de Vall (Barcelona) and two apartments in Gimenells (Lleida).

Younes Kessi also works at the Younes Kessi vineyard. He is a minor, 17 years old. He arrived in Spain two years and four months ago and would like to continue working in the fields. “On June 30th, the best thing for me is to stay working where I am if there's a contract, otherwise look for something else, and if there isn't, well, it's bad,” he says. He turns 18 in August.

In the center of Gimenells live Unaccompanied foreign minors that arrived at Catalonia left without family. When they turn 18, they are transferred to other centers guardianship but the epidemic of the COVID-19 have prevented them from moving. The person in charge of Vivendes de Santa Maria de Gimenells, Marta Angrill, says they are young people who “are working very hard,” so it would be a shame if they were left without papers in July.