Green Pass obligation risks disrupting harvests
Italy
Thursday 14 October 2021
FJ
The Green Pass is compulsory at work, including in the agricultural sector (Photo: qdpnews.it).
In Italy, the obligation of the Green Pass in the workplace threatens the good progress of the harvests according to some professionals. Others predict that this obligation could also disrupt maritime and road transport throughout the country.
According to Coldiretti (Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti), the obligation of the Green Pass in agriculture concerns around 400,000 workers working in the fields where the harvest of grapes, apples and olives has just started. Coldiretti estimates the number of agricultural workers, Italian and foreign, unvaccinated at around 25%, or a total of 100,000 people.
To continue the harvests, it is necessary to facilitate access to work for those who are in good standing, believes Coldiretti who calls for a simplification of control operations on farms. The Confederation emphasizing that among the different economic activities, the lowest percentage of Covid-19 infections was recorded in the agricultural sector with 0.3%.
The number of unvaccinated workers and therefore without Green Pass risks disrupting harvests but also the maritime and road transport sectors. Port workers refusing the mandatory Green Pass have announced strikes. In road transport, it is estimated that around 30% of operators, mostly foreigners, are not vaccinated or have already received the Sputnik vaccine which is not approved in Italy.
This situation leads some analysts to predict tensions and difficulties in the supply for the weeks to come.
source : coldiretti.it, trnews.it, italiaoggi.it, teleborsa.it