Entering the “plastic factories”. Conflicts and competition in Sicilian greenhouses and packinghouses

It is still dark outside when the alarm of our phones tells us that it is time to get up. Outside, the streets are still lit by street lamps. We get in the car and we reach Hassan’s house. When we get there, they are already in the car, ready to go, and we follow them. After a few metres, Hassan stops at the roadside. A young man gets in and the car sets off again. We cross Piazza Manin, better known as the “Square of Tunisians”: from where the roads radiate out to the countryside. Someone is already there waiting for the employer. When the square and the city are some way behind us, we find ourselves in a completely new environment. Constructions of aluminium, wood and plastic devour up the land, consuming the scenery of carob trees and dry stone walls, to the point that the landscape disappears from view. At 7am we arrive at the district of Alcerito, our final destination. We get out of the car, as do Hassan, his wife, his son-in-law and Ahmed, the guy they had picked up from the roadside. Semi is there waiting for us. Semi is a Tunisian who lives in a little hut on the same land as Hassan’s greenhouses. Valeria and I approach the rest of the team. They do not seem bothered by our presence. We get to the greenhouses and there are not that many of them. The land on which they stand is not very large. Hassan puts us to work immediately. Valeria, Sanah (Hassan’s wife) and myself select the best tomatoes to be sent to market. Inside these very hot plastic factories, the three Tunisians relentlessly pick salad tomatoes and place them in boxes situated outside the greenhouses. On the back of a pickup van Valeria, Sanah and myself divide the tomatoes into first, second and third choice. “The best-looking tomatoes have to be placed on the top while the ugly ones go underneath”. Sanah explains to us. No one speaks, except for us on the back of the van. From inside the greenhouses, all that can be heard is the sound of scissors as they remove the tomatoes as quickly as possible.