In Puglia, with the advent of the large harvest season, the housing emergency of migrants is back in vogue, as is happening in the municipalities affected by the cherry harvest, especially in the countryside of Turi in the south-east of Bari and Bisceglie in the north of Bari. Turi and Bisceglie, in some respects, are experiencing the same critical issues in this period, but in past years they have chosen to address them differently: Bisceglie will receive approximately 2.2 million euros from the fund relating to integrated urban plans for overcoming illegal settlements in agriculture ; Turi chose, through his administration, to renounce the 4.8 million. I remind most people: within the Integrated Urban Plans project, a specific line of intervention was foreseen for 200 million euros (114 for Puglia alone) reserved for the recovery of dignified housing solutions for workers in the agricultural sector.
We know that the birth and development of irregular settlements are fertile ground for the infiltration of criminal groups, a phenomenon that contributes to making the living conditions of workers employed in the various supply chains even more precarious. The intervention, in fact, was in execution of the strategic plan against gangmastering in agriculture and the fight against undeclared work launched in 2020 and is part of a more general strategy to combat undeclared work (in compliance with the recommendations of the European Commission) which includes also the increase in the number of labor inspectors and the recent amnesty for irregular agricultural and domestic workers.
As a trade union organization we stand for respect for the rules and we fight daily for the affirmation of quality agricultural work that respects contracts and social laws. We believed that the 114 million euros foreseen by the PNRR for overcoming the informal placements of migrants in Puglia were an important sign of attention from the Government also to provide answers to the phenomenon of gangmastering. We have therefore participated with interest in the numerous meetings that have taken place in the Prefecture in recent years and we have positively evaluated the transdisciplinary approach of the Region which, in addressing a complex problem linked to the housing emergency of migrants, involved the Polytechnic to support municipal administrations in the drafting phase of the Executive Plans within the PNRR Funds. This was evidently not enough, given the choice of many Municipalities to renounce funds already allocated. Among these we include the Municipality of Turi which has decided not to activate projects worth over 4 million euros to definitively overcome this clear division between urban centers and makeshift settlements, a diathesis that is not only physical, but also cultural and identity.
As a trade union organization we were among the first, and perhaps the only ones, alongside a declaration of applause for the appropriations, to underline the need to support the Municipalities in creating teams of technicians capable of planning, managing and implementing these projects, already in self, complexes.
Like Uila we reiterated that we needed to start from the inclusion of these people from a working, social, economic and legal point of view. For this reason it was also important to talk not only about infrastructures, but also about services, investing resources to guarantee a transport mechanism that would allow these workers to get to their workplaces in a safe way, a topic which is in fact one of the most important bets for combat the phenomenon of gangmastering. Even today we reiterate that housing must be offered, thinking about how to mediate job supply and demand and at the same time allow these workers to benefit from essential personal services that allow them to live legally and integrate within the communities of reference.
Alas, the lack of staff within the Municipalities with the necessary skills to draw up the projects has provided the alibi to many administrations for not presenting a project under the PNRR measure; others, like perhaps the case of Turi, have made political choices, as we read in the newspapers, choices that I know are also shared by those who present themselves as an alternative today. Therefore, without entering into an electoral debate, I note that once again we fall into the most vulgar parochialism, the most classic of the Nimby syndrome (Not In My Back Yard, “Not in my courtyard”), or “Not in my Municipality” . A harmful approach for everyone, for the communities, forced to deal with illegal, unmonitored, unregulated settlements, and the regular workers themselves who have every right to a welcome worthy of the name.
By now the data has been drawn, important resources have been lost: we will be forced to work in the emergency, only to then campaign on nothing.
