History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 272

Seasonal labour
Seasonal emigration became necessary as the farming families were forced to
find a substitute for the income lost when home industry fell away. During the quiet
periods on their farms people left home for a few weeks or months to work in
foreign lands, usually France and less commonly to Germany and the
Netherlands. Within Belgium a massive Flemish emigration to the Walloon mines
occurred.
Although the Flemish went wherever work was to be found, France obviously was
the favourite destination. There were vast fertile areas that were sparsely
populated. The need for additional labour forces was therefore great especially as
a result of a major expansion of the labour intensive beet crop In contrast to the
general opinion that seasonal labour was one of the worst paid occupations, the
average wage for this type of work was three times higher in France than in
Belgium and the expansion of the railway network providing cheap transportation
for seasonal workers. Those who went to France were called "Fransmans".
Temporary emigration as a way of life was at its highest during the last quarter of
the nineteenth century and became a steady movement which caused large
sections of the Flemish population to move during a few months of each year.
Most worked as farm labourers between mid-May and mid-November. They
worked the "little beet" in the Spring, next they mowed the hay and clover. Halfway
through July they helped with the grain harvest , finishing towards the end of
September with the "large beet", the harvest of the sugar beets. A small group
was specialised in the harvest of flax. Others worked in the sugar factories,
chicory drying or picking hops. In 1900 the total number of seasonal labourers was
estimated as being one third of all farm workers in West Flanders, reaching 42% in
East Flanders!
In the period before the First World War seasonal labour was not limited to
workers from Flanders. In the area around Ath in the province of Hainaut some
5,000 people left for foreign parts, usually France. In the Ardennes the
woodcutters - several hundreds of them - from the area of Neufchateau working
the forests throughout the winter and often travelling deep into France in summer.
As a result of increasing mechanisation the demand for all-round workers dropped
after the Second World War. The introduction of combine harvester made
seasonal labour superfluous. The beet 'seasons' in the spring and fall co