The 20 workers of Prosus di Vescovato were all acquitted, the majority Indians, ended up on trial on charges of aggravated private violence. “The act is not foreseen by law as a crime”said the judge in the formula of acquittal, also requested by the honorary prosecutor.
In May 2019 the workers were on a war footing “against the procurement system and cooperatives within the company”, and on that occasion, according to the accusation, with unauthorized devicesthey had blocked work for two dayswith damage to the company, as estimated by the then president Gianfranco Caffiof 300 thousand euros.
“It’s a a question that must be brought back to a trade union dispute, to a claim for the most vulnerable workers“, said the two defenders, the lawyers Fabio Farina And Marco Lucentini. “A trade union dispute, even bitter, but with conduct implemented through the ordinary instruments of labor law“. As said by the prosecutor himself in his indictment, “there was no intimidation, there were no threatsbut only passive resistance.”
In those days the demonstrators, around 40, including family members of the workers, had lined up in different areas of the company. The largest group was inside and blocked the main driveway entrance with a sit in. Another group blocked access to the goods loading entrance, while a final group blocked the rear entrance, where the trucks carrying the animals accessed.
Caffi had called the police: “It was not possible to work in those conditions”, the former president said. The situation was resolved the following day, when Caffi met the delegates, who, according to the prosecution, had him forced to accept the conditions imposed by the union representativesigning a draft agreement between Prosus and the grassroots union.
The union delegate also testified at the hearing Roberto Montanariof Usb logistics, who said that the situation of the workers was critical: “They wanted to unite a series of demands, as there were temporary workers who had not been rehired with the new contract. But there were also other problems, related to the lack of recognition of various things. The underlying problem is the sick procurement system.”
The workers are also charged in the “photocopy” process for the events of 8 and 9 August 2019. Even in those days they had physically prevented the entry and exit of the vehicles loaded with meat, parking near the access gate to the construction site adjacent to the company, forcing Caffi to meet the Montanari union delegate and to sign an agreement with which he committed to signing a new service contract, with a supplier other than the “3T” cooperative, which would guarantee the re-hiring of 19 workers who had not been reconfirmed by the cooperative. For the events of August we will return to court on October 18th.
Sara Pizzorni
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