The most recent case occurred in the province of Pordenone, where investigations are still underway that have brought to light a round of exploitation of agricultural labor managed by labor consultants in the unprecedented role of supporters of the corporal. But in the front row there are also the agricultural areas of Mantua and Pavese in Lombardy, or the Euganean Hills and the fields of the Vicentino or Polesine in Veneto. Let’s dispel the myth that the homeland of the agricultural hiring is in the South: over half of the “epicenters” of the exploitation of labor in our country are located in the North.
The data comes from the Placido Rizzotto Observatory of Flai-Cgil, which this year decided to add new periodical publications on the subject of gang-masters to the now consolidated Agromafia Report, including the Quaderni series which will start in Rome on 23 March . Out of 405 areas where the systematic exploitation of labor in the fields is concentrated, according to the scientific surveys of Flai-Cgil, only 191 are found in the South. The others are all in the North, and especially in Veneto and Lombardy. “In the last two years, the northeastern part of the country has seen the emergence of several new exploitation centers,” says Jean-René Bilongo, of the Placido Rizzotto Observatory. The map that has been built takes into account not only the complaints collected in recent years by the street unionists of the Flai-CGIL, but also the actions taken by the police, as well as judicial measures. “Five years after the entry into force of law 199 to combat illegal hiring – says Giovanni Mininni, general secretary of Flai – there are some areas of the country where territorial controls for monitoring and fighting have not yet been established. to exploitation, and coincidentally these areas coincide precisely with the regions where the hiring is gaining ground “.
Fortunately, there are also some improvements: “It is true that cases are growing in Lombardy – says Mininni – but it is also true that, for example, in the Franciacorta wine area, the exploitation of underpaid work has decreased thanks to the agreement signed there. ‘last year between the Consortium and the main trade unions in the sector: by setting a fair price for the grapes, we managed to increase the wages of workers and thus take them out of the gray area ».
For the next agricultural campaigns at the gates, in this period of skyrocketing raw material prices as a consequence of the Ukrainian crisis, Flai says she is worried about the risk of a new growth in the hiring phenomenon: “I fear – says Mininni – this climate of deregulation , of lowering of the laces, which is spreading in the country. Behind the good intention of leaving companies free to move as much as possible, so that they continue to be productive despite the crisis, there is in fact the danger that controls will decrease and exploitation will regain footing ».