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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

Eden Flaherty @esflaherty.bsky.social · 17h

A must-read article that highlights how climate change, labour exploitation, health and the rise of the far right are all connected.

Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 2d

“They treat us worse than dogs", one worker told me.

Based on reporting in Huelva & Lleida, my latest for
Jacobin looks at how climate breakdown is aggravating yet further the harsh realities faced by migrant farm workers in Spain's lucrative agri-industrial sector. jacobin.com/2025/10/spai...

In Spain, Farmworkers Are Dying in the Heat

Three migrant farmworkers died from heatstroke in Spain this summer. Largely ignored by media, their fate illustrates how the effects of the climate crisis are offloaded on the least visible workers.

jacobin.com

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks so much for all your input and support during the investigation, Thin!

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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 1d

This week's issue is about a very timely cross-border investigation that illustrated the shortfalls of the current system in protecting a crucial asset of European agriculture: farm workers.

Full disclosure: I played a small role mentoring the team behind this.

news.thin-ink.net/p/how-europe...

How Europe’s Farm Subsidy Scheme Fails Workers

As lawmakers concentrate on meat bans, the CAP continues to bankroll exploitation in the fields

news.thin-ink.net

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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 2d

“They treat us worse than dogs", one worker told me.

Based on reporting in Huelva & Lleida, my latest for
Jacobin looks at how climate breakdown is aggravating yet further the harsh realities faced by migrant farm workers in Spain's lucrative agri-industrial sector. jacobin.com/2025/10/spai...

In Spain, Farmworkers Are Dying in the Heat

Three migrant farmworkers died from heatstroke in Spain this summer. Largely ignored by media, their fate illustrates how the effects of the climate crisis are offloaded on the least visible workers.

jacobin.com

7 9

Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 2d

“They treat us worse than dogs", one worker told me.

Based on reporting in Huelva & Lleida, my latest for
Jacobin looks at how climate breakdown is aggravating yet further the harsh realities faced by migrant farm workers in Spain's lucrative agri-industrial sector. jacobin.com/2025/10/spai...

In Spain, Farmworkers Are Dying in the Heat

Three migrant farmworkers died from heatstroke in Spain this summer. Largely ignored by media, their fate illustrates how the effects of the climate crisis are offloaded on the least visible workers.

jacobin.com

7 9

Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

NEW INVESTIGATION:

EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

Financed by @journalismfund.bsky.social, this project traced dozens of EU payments to farms committing serious labour abuses.

A🧵of cases demonstrating the lack of safeguards on CAP funds: www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/r...

Revealed: EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe. Farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies, DeSmog can reve...

www.desmog.com

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

@simonguichard.bsky.social @joseuf.bsky.social @pascalemueller.bsky.social @meriemm.bsky.social @frnzskschwrz.bsky.social @silvialazzaris.bsky.social

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

“That the EU is funnelling large sums of public money into farms accused and even convicted of labour abuses is scandalous,” said @deschuttero.bsky.social. "Public funds continue to subsidise farms implicated in exploitative food production, including modern-day slavery."

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

Italy’s state police anti-terrorism unit DIGOS found the pair had underpaid wages as part of a tax evasion scheme. The son received more than €90,000 in subsidies the year of his conviction, and €110,000 the following year.

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

In the years since the lawsuits were brought, the two farmers have collected around €63,000 in CAP funds.

Case 6: In 2022, a court in Piedmont, northern Italy, sentenced a poultry farmer and his mother to three years in prison and an 8,000 euros fine for exploiting migrant workers...

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

Case 5: In 2021, 18 Georgian strawberry-pickers in Germany sued their employers after finding themselves housed in dirty, mouldy accommodation and paid only a fraction of what they’d been promised. While one case was settled, the second is yet to be resolved....

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

...verbal and physical violence, constant surveillance, and forced to live in cramped, dirty conditions. ...In stark contrast, Mohammed’s employer was paid over €270,000 in public funds between 2017 and 2024, including €15,000 in 2024 – the year workers filed complaints about their treatment.

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

...paying migrant workers just €4.50 an hour to work 11-hour days, seven days a week.

Case 4: “We were treated like slaves, working shifts of up to 14 hours,” recounts Mohammed, a graduate from Morocco who in 2023 worked as a fruit-picker in southern France, where he was subjected to...

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

Case 3: In Campania, Italy, a farmer convicted of exploitation in 2023 received nearly €200,000 in CAP subsidies the following year – almost enough to cover the €250,265 fine imposed as part of his sentence. The farm, which collected over a million euros in subsidies since 2015, was found to be...

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

Case 2: a farmer in Jaén, Spain – convicted of exploitation in 2016 and twice charged with murder over the alleged deaths of two different migrant farmworkers a decade apart – was paid €118,000 in public funds between 2014 and 2022.The sum includes €17,000 paid, a year after a 2nd worker disappeared

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

The three convicted farmers were ordered to were ordered to pay the workers a total of €44,000 in compensation, but their family-run farm received €41,000 in CAP subsidies that same year. Since their initial arrest, they have been paid €283,000 in EU funds.

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

Case 1: In 2024, a local politician for the Popular Party in Galicia, Spain, was sentenced, along with 2 family members, to 9 months in prison after forcing 2 migrant workers to work 13 hours a day 7 days a week – without a contract, breaks or benefits...

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 6d

NEW INVESTIGATION:

EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

Financed by @journalismfund.bsky.social, this project traced dozens of EU payments to farms committing serious labour abuses.

A🧵of cases demonstrating the lack of safeguards on CAP funds: www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/r...

Revealed: EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe. Farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies, DeSmog can reve...

www.desmog.com

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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

David Bollero @dbollero.bsky.social · 11d

Cuando ejercer la esclavitud no te priva de recibir subvenciones. Esta es la Europa que tenemos.
#inmigración
Investigados y condenados por explotación laboral siguen recibiendo millones de euros de la PAC www.elsaltodiario.com/explotacion-...

Investigados y condenados por explotación laboral siguen recibiendo millones de euros de la PAC

La investigación de un grupo de periodistas europeos han rastreado docenas de subvenciones de la Unión Europea a productores agrícolas que intimidan y explotan a trabajadores migrantes.

www.elsaltodiario.com

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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

Clare Carlile @clarecarlile.bsky.social · 11d

If I recommend reading one thing today it's this...

An amazing group of journalists have spent a year tracking the millions in CAP subsidies going to farmers who are being investigated, have been convicted, or are even in prison for violating migrant workers' rights

DeSmog @desmog.com · 12d

🔴 Revealed: EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

New investigation reveals how farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers rake in millions in subsidies 👇

www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/r...

Revealed: EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe. Farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies, DeSmog can reve...

www.desmog.com

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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 12d

Investigados y condenados por explotación laboral siguen recibiendo millones de euros de la PAC

En un caso un concejal del PP en Lugo fue condenado en 2024 a nueve meses de prisión por explotar a dos jornaleros migrantes irregulares. Ese mismo año recibió 41.000 € en subvenciones de la PAC

El Salto @elsaltodiario.com · 12d

🔎 La investigación de un grupo de periodistas europeos han rastreado docenas de subvenciones de la Unión Europea a productores agrícolas que intimidan y explotan a trabajadores migrantes.

Investigados y condenados por explotación laboral siguen recibiendo millones de euros de la PAC

La investigación de un grupo de periodistas europeos han rastreado docenas de subvenciones de la Unión Europea a productores agrícolas que intimidan y explotan a trabajadores migrantes.

elsal.to

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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

IPES-Food @ipes-food.org · 11d

“A scandal that the EU is funnelling large sums of public money [via the #CAP] into farms accused & even convicted of labour abuses.

“Social conditionality has proven toothless – failing to prevent abuse or trigger meaningful sanctions” says @deschuttero.bsky.social
www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/r...

Revealed: EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe. Farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies, DeSmog can reve...

www.desmog.com

12 14

Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

Journalismfund Europe @journalismfund.bsky.social · 11d

🚨 Are European public funds subsidising farms involved in practices akin to modern-day slavery?
🚜 New investigation reveales that farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions of euros in subsidies funded by taxpayers!
Read more 👉 t.ly/vGmtY
#plupro #ecb

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Eoghan Gilmartin @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social · 11d

Thanks for sharing, Tina!

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Reposted by Eoghan Gilmartin

tinaleeinberlin.bsky.social @tinaleeinberlin.bsky.social · 11d

"A major new investigation traced dozens of EU payments to farms that have breached, are under investigation for, or have already been convicted of labour-related offences."
www.desmog.com/2025/09/29/r...

Revealed: EU Farm Subsidy ‘Bankrolls’ Widespread Labour Abuse

This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe. Farm owners convicted of exploiting migrant workers continue to claim millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies, DeSmog can reve...

www.desmog.com

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