A classified ad by a agricultural cooperative in central Larissa offering 20-euro-day positions for crop pickers attracted more than 400 applications recently, with prospective day laborers including university graduates as well as long-termed unemployed.

What’s just as interesting is the fact that most applicants were local residents, and not foreign workers, who over the past decades made up the vast majority of farm laborers in the Larissa region and throughout the country.

The development that led to the employment offer occurred in early June when cooperative’s workforce, primarily Albanian nationals, held a work stoppage to demand less work hours for the same pay.

“We worked with those people (farm workers) for many years, and instead of sitting down and talking with us to find a solution, they tried to blackmail us just before the picking season, which is crucial for us. This move, however, turned out to be a boomerang (for them),” the president of the Yiannoulis Cooperative, Dimitris Leonidakis, told Proto Thema.

“We convened a general assemby and decided to request farm workers from our region, placing an ad in the local paper, Larissa’s Eleftheria (Liberty). Despite the fact that we were somewhat apprehensive, given that a similar decision by a farm cooperative in Imathia (prefecture) two years ago didn’t generate too much interest, our decision, in the end, vindicated us,” he said.
The job ad was published for three days, attracting 420 applications for 80 farm laborer positions, primarily picking the area’s seasonal crops.

Applicants included men and woman aged between 18 and 62, including college graduates.

“Not only have Greeks returned to the vocations of their fathers, but what’s interesting is that this trend is constantly growing. This means that the crisis has affected us for good,” Leonidakis says.

The Larissa area, Greece’s primary agricultural region, produces peaches, apricots, pears, watermelons, cotton, corn and other crops.

Locals employed in farm production will significantly boost the local economy; just last year members of the cooperative paid out a total of 500,000 euros in daily wages, primarily to Albanian workers, with the latter mostly sending the money to their country as remittances, Leonidakis added.

Evi Pitsari, a university graduate with a physical education degree, agreed, saying she’s telling her peers to “leave the cafes and couches and come pick peaches”.

With a degree in physical education degree from the foremost school in Greece in the subject, Pitsari in the past worked in her field. When unemployment knocked on her door she turned to picking peaches in Larissa.

“As soon as I saw the ad I immediately called the cooperative. What I would say to young people is to take the dare and leave the cafes and couches, and come work in the fields.”

Athanasia, Bliablia, a one-time private sector employee before being laid-off, emphasized that “times are difficult and choices limited. I come from a farm family, so I had no problem whatsoever in working in the fields, where many young people are now employed, even on a seasonal basis. There’s no shame in work, and I believe the crisis is a good opportunity to return to the work of our fathers and grandfathers, which many of us had discredited.”

For unemployed construction worker Giorgos Zdragas, work in the fields means a daily wage, even if it’s only for the warmer months.

“Due to the continuing crisis we didn’t have the luxury of choosing (a job). Unemployment is rampant, and the fields, at least here in Larissa, are a good opportunity to secure a desired daily wage. It may be difficult in the beginning, but it’s up to you to adapt. The decision by the Yiannoulis cooperative was a way out for us,” he said.