Monday 3 June 2024 – “The data released by the command of the Carabinieri Group for the Protection of Work of Naples – which has jurisdiction over the regions of Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata and Molise – on the 2023 supervisory activity for safety in workplaces work and for “illegal work” with the identification of 36% of irregular workers and 15% of “illegal” workers, testifies that irregular work is still widespread in Basilicata and the South”.
The claims it regional secretary of Uil Vincenzo Tortorelli for which the assessment for approximately 2,300 employers in the five regions of the South of responsibility relating to violations of worker safety in the workplace “is the other side of the coin of undeclared work and gangmastering” which is recorded in the last year by the command of the Carabinieri Group for the Protection of Labor of Naples 26 activities to combat gangmastering with 14 people arrested and 79 released for labor exploitation and approximately 1,500 exploited workers identified.
“It is clear that the campaign recently launched by the Ministry of Labor to raise awareness of the value and advantages of regular work cannot be enough to combat irregular work”.
For Tortorelli “in undeclared work there is often a lack of protection also in terms of health and safety, and it is good to remember that mission 5 of the PNRR, relating to inclusion and cohesion, is connected to a “National Plan for the fight against undeclared work” which is already a few years old but which has not produced the desired results.
For effective planning of the inspection activity, as well as the monitoring of the phenomenon of undeclared work throughout the regional territory, there is a need to intensify and coordinate the work carried out by the National Labor Inspectorate (INL), by the INPS inspection staff , INAIL, the Carabinieri and the Financial Police, ensuring, first of all, that the data flows into the single national portal managed by the National Labor Inspectorate.
There is a need – continues Tortorelli – to strengthen the Basilicata staff of the Inspectorate, Inail and INPS responsible for controls.
In the coming years, among the various financing lines – Pnrr and 21/27 programming -, several billion euros will arrive in Basilicata, a great opportunity.
We must spend it well – he added – we are convinced that when public money is allocated to companies, that is, money paid by workers, pensioners and virtuous companies, we must give it to those companies that apply the contracts”.
Therefore, the time has come for community programming to translate into a real impact on employment. So far, the many resources that have arrived have not created employment but rather black and undeclared work.
We hope that this programming will now be transformed into quality work.
And to give greater support to the Work Plan presented by CGIL, CISL, UIL, a commission should be established to combat illegal work, irregular work with particular attention to safety and health in the workplace which, as demonstrated by the new fatal accident between San Fele and Ruvo del Monte, at the entrance to a quarry, with the victim of a lorry driver, remains a priority in Basilicata too”.
Cover photo: Vincenzo Tortorelli, regional secretary of Uil Basilicata
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