Seasonal Workers Backdrop Blur
Seasonal Workers Poster
United States
NR 0h 53m

Seasonal Workers

Since the end of World War II, Switzerland has largely depended on immigrant workers from Southern Europe – first from Italy, then Spain and finally Portugal and the former Yugoslavia. Many of them were “seasonal workers”, a unique status in Europe and one that was particularly iniquitous. These workers were allowed to stay in Switzerland only nine months of the year and were obliged to return home for the other three months; they were not allowed to change jobs; they could not have their own accommodation but had to live in what was provided by their employers; they were not allowed to bring their spouses and children with them. Tens of thousands of people lived in sub-standard accomodation that was often dangerous and endured particularly tough work conditions, especially in construction, but also in agriculture and the hotel industry.

Watch Now

Top Cast

Overview

Since the end of World War II, Switzerland has largely depended on immigrant workers from Southern Europe – first from Italy, then Spain and finally Portugal and the former Yugoslavia. Many of them were “seasonal workers”, a unique status in Europe and one that was particularly iniquitous. These workers were allowed to stay in Switzerland only nine months of the year and were obliged to return home for the other three months; they were not allowed to change jobs; they could not have their own accommodation but had to live in what was provided by their employers; they were not allowed to bring their spouses and children with them. Tens of thousands of people lived in sub-standard accomodation that was often dangerous and endured particularly tough work conditions, especially in construction, but also in agriculture and the hotel industry.

Rating

NR / 10
0 Reviews
0 Popular

Recommendations

Night Will Fall

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Night Will Fall

7.6 2014