A case intercepted just in time. A bad story with a happy ending, which immediately makes you think of another potential Satnam Singhthe laborer who died a few days ago in Latina. The outcome is different, but it basically confirms the reality of an economy that in certain sectors is based on exploitation and illegality.
Inspections are collapsing, only one in twenty in agriculture. But the government is bluffing about the numbers and inflating them
by Valentina Conte
June 24, 2024
In this story, which comes from the province of Modena, the prompt intervention of the union – Fillea CGIL – avoided the worst. And in the end a construction worker from an artisan company in Emilia, an irregular worker paid 1 euro an hour, manages to obtain a residence permit for serious exploitation: one year with the possibility of renewal.
A story that begins with the confidences of the 30-year-old Moroccan, who since January has been complaining about his economic treatment to the Filea CGIL official, Pietro Imperato. The union ascertains that he is completely illegal, and that he has also suffered an accident at work.
Thanks to the local official, Souad Elkaddani, who speaks Arabic, the case passes to the Foreign Workers Center of the Modena Chamber of Labor. With the lawyer Elisabetta Vandelli we move on to the complaint and thanks to the courage of the young man, both the complaint for exploitation and the one for failure to register with INAIL and INPS are filed, presented to the Prosecutor’s Office and the Labor Inspectorate. This leads to obtaining a residence permit for serious conditions of work exploitation, lasting one year, renewable.
The first case recognized in Modena which according to Fillea general secretary, Rodolfo Ferraro, “can make the difference in the fight against gangmastering”. For Ferraro “we need advanced tools such as the Congruity Durc, introduced three years ago with decree 143 by the Ministry of Labour, which has certified over 40.6 billion euros of works and over 270 thousand construction sites, identifying 2 thousand irregular ones. An induced emergence of 100 thousand workers previously unknown to INPS, INAIL and IRS. So – he asks – as also asked by the CGIL on Saturday at the demonstration in Latina, not to replicate it in the agricultural sector? Tools that can better certify the irregularities of companies and machinery, which would give quality to the entire supply chain with an effect of legality”.
