Many migrant workers are being exploited by criminal networks and are completely at the mercy of gangmasters. An account from Giulia Lagano, an expert in migrant worker issues at Solidar.
Southern Italy has large numbers of guest workers from Africa. They have often been recruited by criminal organisations and are subject to gangmasters, in other words syndicate leaders.
“Those who protest or get in touch with a union are punished mercilessly. Hundreds of people have disappeared; no one knows exactly how many. The migrant workers have also found it difficult to get help from their home countries. Their embassies generally do not know they are in Italy working,” says Giulia Lagano, expert in migrant worker issues at Solidar.
According to Giulia, the dead bodies of migrant workers have been found.
“Just recently, the burnt body of a Polish worker was found in a field. The employer claimed he died from natural causes and that there was an accident, but around his neck was a chord with an undamaged passport. Something didn’t stack up. Somebody had put the passport there after his death. One theory is that the worker was burnt in order to frighten other workers into silence.”
A very large proportion of the African workers in southern Italy have no work permits. They are extremely vulnerable and are systematically subjected to blackmail.
“They are continually threatened with deportation to their home countries; sometimes to states where they would be exposed to repression and tyranny. Applying for state funded health care is impossible for them; it would mean being thrown out of the country.
Giulia thinks it is positive that the European trade union ETUC, has started to get involved in issues relating to migrant workers.
“One requirement which the EU should adopt is that paperless migrants who report they have been subject to exploitation should at least be given temporary residence permits. It’s crazy that many people today are afraid to report serious crimes because they will risk being deported and thereby be punished themselves.”
Giulia also wants to involve consumer movements in the defence of migrants. She is convinced that it would increase pressure on the issues.
“People who buy bananas must be informed when production was carried out by slaves. They should put pressure on the producers. In Spain, there is currently a promising collaboration between trade unions and consumer organisations to improve conditions for migrant workers.”
(Solidar is an international alliance of organisations supporting a civil society. The Palme Centre is one of its members. For more information, see: www.solidar.org.)
MATS WINGBORG