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Italian Labor Minister Marina Calderone on Saturday announced new measures to combat the scourge of migrant worker exploitation in the country.
“We have increased the number of labor inspectors and over the course of the year we will be able to double the number of inspections compared to those carried out in recent years,” Calderone said on Italian television channel TgCom24.
The move follows the death of Indian citizen Satnam Singh, a farm worker who was allegedly left on a road in the rural area of Latina, near Rome, by his employer after a work accident severed his arm. The news was widely condemned by politicians and trade unions.
Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said it was a “tragedy which mustn’t leave us indifferent and on which full light must be shed.” The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is “on the frontline … to fight against all forms of labor exploitation,” he added.
At least one in every four agricultural workers in Europe is a migrant. The Mafia-led exploitation of irregular migrants is rife in Italy, where it is called caporalato.
Calderone told Tgcom24 that thanks to “intelligence and data cross-referencing, we will be able to map what is happening in the fields and we will be able to intervene.” The intensification of “sweeping checks” will be seen day by day, she added.
