The president of the Milan Center
for Food Law and Policy, Livia Pomodoro, has called on the
European Parliament for EU legislation to fight labor
exploitation in the agricultural sector.
The Milan Center for Food Law and Policy, a permanent
observatory created in February 2014 by Expo SpA, the city of
Milan, the Lombardy region and the Milan chamber of commerce,
has launched the initiative 'Be Aware' together with Italian
consumers cooperative Coop.
The campaign is aimed at promoting a European legislative
framework in favor of good practices against labor exploitation
in agriculture, a Europe-wide phenomenon.
Illegal work is particularly common in southern and eastern
Europe, according to data just published in the report 'Best
practices against work exploitation in agriculture'.
The study published by the observatory said that illegal
workers in agriculture in Romania and Portugal represent,
respectively, 40% and 60% of the sector's workforce.
In Poland, illegal farm workers exceed 25% and in Italy 30%.
Germany and Austria have an estimated 10% of illegal workers
employed in the sector, according to the study.
The European average is 25%.
The President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani
stressed that the issue cannot only be dealt with at a national
level - Italy in 2016 passed a law designed to crack down on
illegal labor in agriculture - but also at a European level to
reaffirm the "basic values that gave life to the EU".
Illegal labor also gives an unfair advantage to companies
exploiting workers, lawmakers noted.
Democratic Party (PD) European MP Patrizia Toia, the
vice-president of the industry committee, noted that it is
necessary to "counter phenomena unworthy of a civil society"
with a mobile workforce in Europe.
Nevertheless, the fragmentation of national contexts makes an
EU approach difficult.
The vice-president of the EP's agricultural committee, Paolo
De Castro, noted how previous attempts to provide funding only
to agricultural companies following specific labor standards, as
seen with the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) reforms of
agricultural commissioners Franz Fischler and Dacian Ciolos,
were unfortunately "unsuccessful".
According to European lawmaker and social affairs committee
member ,Elena Genile, a starting point could be represented by
the "European platform against undeclared work" launched in 2016
by the European Commission.
European MP Cécile Kyenge said that, "we need to build an
armor of rights also to prevent conflicts", noting that a key
way to promote social integration while favoring local
development is the promotion of "clean agro-industries, with
certified labels and aware consumers".
And the president of the national association of consumer
cooperatives Ancc-Coop, Stefano Bassi, stressed that good
practices already exist, talking about the campaign "Buoni e
giusti", or good and fair.
He said that suppliers for Coop, the largest grocery chain in
Italy, pledge to abide by labor laws and undergo routine checks
with the risk of losing their client if they are found not to
respect workers' rights.
The report cited other examples of good practices including
projects promoted by Catholic charity Caritas in Italy, French
regulations that eliminated illegal work in harvesting and
technological innovation thanks to which agriculture provides
work and integration opportunities for migrants while boosting
the local economy in Spain's Almeria region.
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