Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Porteadoras

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Porteadoras is a name that refers to bale workers in the autonomous Spanish city enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta, located on the north coast of Africa.

History

Due to a second duty called Biutz anything physically carried across the borders into Morocco is duty-free. This created a cottage industry of sorts for people in the district to carry good across the border for merchants.

Every year, more than €1.4 billion ($1.8 billion) worth of goods are carried by Porteadoras into Morocco across the borders of Melilla and Ceuta.

It is typically a "job of last resort", performed mostly by widows, divorcees, or wives with severely disabled husbands. Typically aged and/or ailing women carrying bales of trade goods that weigh more than themselves.

The governments of Spain and Morocco could work together to eliminate the loophole or improve conditions for workers, but instead allow conditions to deteriorate making a difficult job dangerous. In 2008, porteadora Safia Azizi fell and was promptly trampled to death. In 2009 two women died at Ceuta Biutz border crossing, overwhelmed by an avalanche of 200 carriers, four policemen were also injured.

The women ask for safer working conditions, limits on the bale weight and more reliable border opening.

References

Porteadoras Wikipedia