We are very upset and saddened by what happened to Satnam Singh, we express our solidarity with his family, and we ask ourselves how to cope with such great injustices even in our land, in the countryside of Foggia. We cannot get used to the fact that work, which gives life, becomes exploitation or death. Work must make one live: it is a vocation, dignity of the person, sociality. The victims of gangmastering are a scandal. Legality, human dignity, job security are not a cost, nor even a luxury, but a duty which corresponds to an inalienable right of every person. Too many people, even in our province of Foggia, have paid with their lives for the perverse system of gangmastering. We must do more, commit more, everyone. In recent days the death of Satnam Singh, in the countryside of Latina, has rightly caused a sensation and sparked a renewed debate on this issue, but we know well that even in Puglia exploitation is a social phenomenon, hard to eradicate, which has already produced the his victims.
I think of Paola Clemente, who died of fatigue under the scorching sun of a fiery Foggia summer on 13 July 2015. It is not acceptable that laborers should be forced to work in the hottest hours of the day, with temperatures of 40 degrees. With ordinance no. 274 of 18 June 2024, the Governor of Puglia prohibits work in the fields, from 12.30 to 16.00, on the hottest summer days: we ask that it be respected. Let’s think of the many men who can be met every day in our countryside. They have wrinkled faces marked by a fatigue that kills. We must do more, be more creative and convinced in intervening. Christian communities must also welcome and integrate more. Solutions must be found. The first is the regularization of those who come to Italy to carry out jobs that we extremely need and whose workforce cannot be found in Italy: it is in irregularity and precariousness that dramas like that of Satman arise. The legal routes for immigration must be expanded. It is also the need of our society, our families and businesses. We have seen, even here in Foggia, how the humanitarian corridors, which guarantee regular entries, have guaranteed the integration of migrants.
We must commit ourselves to building a more humane but also more legal society, where illegal work and consequently gangmasters have less room for maneuver. It is necessary to overcome the ghettos that exist in the province of Foggia. We cannot accept that men live in those conditions. Better housing conditions, more efficient public transport and more humane living conditions must be created. State, Church, civil society, we must all find a surge of indignation and undertake concrete actions in the near future to respond to the need for dignity of these workers. We therefore ask, as the tomato cultivation and harvesting season begins, that all safety regulations be respected. The tools are there. In particular, law no. 199 of 2016 denounces the “exploitation of labor in agriculture”: it must be enforced. There is a need for a strong change of mentality: it is not normal for people to work fourteen hours a day for a few euros. As a Church in the province of Foggia we are more committed to doing our part while we trust in the commitment of the institutions and all the inhabitants of this land of ours.
† Giorgio Ferretti Archbishop of Foggia-Bovino
