(Finance) – “Everyone’s aim is to declare war on gangmastering and intensify all the actions against a system that degrades work, puts human lives at risk and does not increase the quality of work in a very important sector like that of agriculture. Sensitivity is common to the entire government and is common in the definition of overall strategies”. This is what the Minister of Labor Marina Elvira Calderone at the end of the table with the social partners which opened today in Rome, together with the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida and to the social partners, after the Cisterna di Latina affair with the death of the laborer Satnam Singh.
“We can only remember and condemn – he underlined Cauldron – what happened to the worker in Cisterna di Latina, who lost his life because he was not helped and there were those who thought of abandoning him without assistance at a time when his injuries were very serious. Controls are intensifying, we have increased the number of inspectors hired. The competitions have already been announced and will be on a regional basis. We will strengthen all the regional inspectorates”. Furthermore, the minister said, we will focus on a “careful, punctual, synergistic consultation work on the available databases, including those that the Ministry of Agriculture will give us with Agea” and it is intended “strengthen the agricultural network in quantity, because the fight against gangmastering also involves supporting those who regularly manage work activities and above all agriculture”.
The table on gangmastering that met today at the Ministry of Labor is an “open” table which also envisages opening up to an acceleration also through the adoption of regulatory measures “different from those imagined”, he said Lollobrigida. “The story – stated the Minister of Agriculture – sees two aspects: one is that of a criminal who has committed, in all likelihood, the judiciary has the task of verifying it according to the principles of law, but who nevertheless seems to have committed crimes that must be punished with all the severity of the case. Charges ranging from manslaughter to manslaughter. Then there is another phenomenon, widespread in Italy and in the agricultural sector not since today, of gangmaster. A phenomenon that our government has intended to counteract from day one with a series of activities, many of which were born in the various roundtables”, continued the minister. Today’s roundtable – Lollobrigida continued – “makes the skills available of every sector for even immediate solutions and course corrections with respect to rules whose existence everyone claims, but at the same time the inapplication or ineffectiveness. If they continue to exist in an unfortunately non-episodic manner, it means that a problem exists and additional tools must be adopted to reach the objective”. Lollobrigida highlighted the need to also work “on workforce arriving from third countries, providing them with training also on trade union rights, as well as on basic knowledge of the Italian language so that they can, for example, provide help and assistance”. At the table, Lollobrigida further clarified, “we touched on a very wide spectrum of issues, some of which have a state of progress regulations already in place. We can also accelerate processes through regulatory instruments different from those imagined, I refer to bill presented by Minister Calderone iin this sense, which could be accelerated using the vehicle of the agriculture decree, which we have made available to address a series of issues that also indirectly affect the phenomenon of the fair remuneration of workers in agriculture and the fair value of recognized agricultural production”. discussions can also be “non-formal”, said Lollonbrigida, pointing out that in the meeting it was said that “in the next few days, or rather in the next few hours, on some specific aspects or amendments that may be represented also at the request of trade union and employer forces, where it may be useful and there is a common agreement, to speed up some processes of course correction in various areas, including that which concerns gangmastering”. A table that “does not need formal calls, there will be some, but which needs to remain open to address all the issues that deal with this and other situations connected to it”. Lollobrigida also highlighted unfair competition from other countries and reiterated how in Europe “we ask that imports and exchange agreements be included respect for human rights and workers’ rights”.
A message also comes from the Minister of Agriculture appeal to “not criminalize” agricultural entrepreneurs, following the death of the laborer. “I make an appeal: in these situations it may happen that there is a criminalization of one of the links in the supply chain – reported the minister –. In the case of the death of a worker due to the fault of a criminal, agricultural businesses are instead criminalised. And an episode of vandalism of these hours towards an agricultural association, suggests that there is a problem”. The reference is to a “threatening writing by this association on an office in Lombardy, which is reported by agencies, and the accusation that these deaths depend on agricultural entrepreneurs. They depend on criminals, in any sector”.
Calderone and Lollobrigida have made it known that Satnam Singh’s widow was granted a renewable six-month leave. “A social permit – he said Cauldron – so she will be assisted, accompanied by the competent structures and in this there will be all the maximum support and maximum attention for a path that we know is very difficult”. Minister of Agriculture he recalled how the situation in which Singh found himself “did not arise this year, it was born several years ago, and therefore there is a prolonged exploitation of a person who seems to have arrived in Italy with a temporary nine-month contract in 2017 and after nine months, despite ceasing to have the possibility, she remained in Italy without anyone wondering what had happened to her. It is clear – said Lollobrigida – that this system has unfortunately taken root in Italy for a long time and in a horizontal manner, over everything. the national territory”.
“The umpteenth case of inhuman exploitation that emerged in Latina, with the death of Satnam Singh, an abandoned and dying agricultural worker, demonstrates the need to resume a permanent discussion on work with the inter-ministerial table launched in February to take concrete action starting from the most vulnerable territories : the Government accepts our proposals to make work safer and to put an end to gang-mastering and ghettoization of immigrants – said the general secretary of the national Fai-Cisl, Onofrio Rota, speaking in Rome, at the Ministry of Labour, in discussions with ministers Calderone and Lollobrigida -. We are outraged by what happened and we stand with the family of the dead laborer and the entire Indian community, but if we really want to eradicate the scourge of gangmastering it is important not to act on the wave of emotion – said the trade unionist – because the phenomenon, as we denounce for years, it has been rooted in specific crops and territories, so a structural response is needed. We ask the Government first of all to enhance the cross-referencing of data and accelerate the measures planned for the efficiency of the Labor Inspectorate and those planned with the Pnrr for workers’ housing, then the click day policies for the flow decrees must be overcome: if we really want to declare war on exploitation we must start above all from an effective emergence of those who become irregular, because those who want to work and have not committed crimes cannot remain in limbo when their contracts expire, we are talking about people whose dignity and inclusion we must recognize, otherwise they we find ourselves in the many ghettos scattered throughout the area. Then the bilateral agricultural bodies, present in each province, must be involved to govern the match between supply and demand for work with efficiency and transparency. Furthermore, the territorial protocols against gangmastering must be implemented in all their parts, as well as for the control rooms, which serve to multiply the good practices of transport, accommodation and contractualization of workers, also in the interests of the many agricultural companies that operate legally and they suffer unfair competition from those who do not apply contracts. Finally, we need a more rewarding system for companies registered in the INPS quality agricultural work network. In addition to the mobilizations of these days, such as the one carried out yesterday in front of the Prefecture of Latina together with the territorial CISL – concluded Rota – we will continue to support workers with our ‘Protections in motion’ campers, with our multilingual guides on rights, health and security, with the ‘SOS Caporalato’ and ‘Never again ghettos’ campaigns, but the closeness of the police forces and institutions is also needed to enhance the role of those who live on the front line every day to affirm legality and dignified work , and on this we expect concrete measures from the Government.”
Fai-Cisl and Uila-Uil have called a strike for Tuesday 25th in Latina it’s a demonstration with the Indian community:”We prefer to demonstrate with the workers, not with the parties”, concluded the leader of the Cislina agri-food federation. He will also participate in the event Coldiretti.
“Rigorous controls are needed to protect the rights and health of workers and honest agricultural companies from the phenomenon of gangmastering, which barbarically puts people’s lives at risk and fuels irregularities and agromafias, and we need to guarantee a fair income by strengthening the instrument of contracts of the supply chain – declared the Coldiretti on the occasion of the round table convened at the Ministry of Labor -. The example of supply chain contracts stipulated in the tobacco sector was brought to the table, where together with the economic part, precise rules of good agricultural practices were included which also include total observance of the rules in terms of hiring and workers’ rights. In a situation like the Italian one where legal foreigners have become a fundamental component for Made in Italy production, it is necessary to stamp out crime phenomena – concluded Coldiretti – and support regular employment, especially made up of fixed-term employees who arrive from abroad and who every year cross the border for seasonal work and then return to their country, often establishing lasting professional relationships as well as friendships with agricultural entrepreneurs. That’s exactly why it is It is necessary to improve the system of regular work flows, to provide timely and transparent job opportunities, overcoming the click day logic and responding to companies’ real needs of workers. It is also essential to ensure the respect for entry times so that companies can have workers available for the agricultural activities for which they have requested them”.