Three government ministers on Friday
signed a protocol with Italy's southern regions to crack down on
gangmasters and combat the exploitation of day laborers.
Farm Minister Maurizio Martina, Labor Minister Giuliano
Poletti, and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano signed the
protocol backed by CGIL, CISL and UIL trade union federations,
grassroots farm associations, and the regions of Basilicata,
Calabria, Campania, Puglia and Sicily in the south, as well as
Piedmont in the north.
The new protocol calls for coordination between local
police, labor inspectors, and other officials to root out and
punish exploiters, protect vulnerable day laborers, and promote
lawful and ethical workplace practices.
"As of today we're fighting the gangmasters even harder -
we have decided to carry on a specific, targeted battle," said
Alfano.
Italy has seen a string of labor code violations in its
fields and vineyards, with unscrupulous employers recruiting
recent immigrants for starvation wages.
Earlier this month, prosecutors in the Tuscan city of Prato
said 12 suspects are under investigation for racketeering with
intent to exploit undocumented foreign workers in the vineyards
of Chianti, which is famous all over the world for its wine.
They identified a Pakistani couple - named as Tarik
Sikander and his wife - who recruited new arrivals from Pakistan
and sub-Saharan Africa and brokered them out to five Chianti
wine producers - who thought they were paying the workers union
rates - and pocketed the difference. Investigators say they
documented the refugees being beaten and made to work in
flip-flops in winter.
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