Authorities in Italy's southern Puglia region are trying to fight the gangmaster system. They have rebranded the migrant tent camp in the city of Foggia, a 'Citadel of Hospitality' to try and end exploitation.
If you want to work in the EU, skills and qualifications may be enough to get a visa. But it's a different story for those without sought-after skills, for whom one of the few legal routes is with a temporary permit for seasonal work.
The organization Doctors for Human Rights (MEDU) denounced the alarming living and working conditions of foreign farm workers on the Gioia Tauro plain in Calabria, southern Italy.
After several road accidents involving migrant farmworkers, street lights in the plain of Gioia Tauro, southern Italy, are being repaired. The Italian interior ministry says it is working with local authorities on improving public transport in the area and providing migrants with items such as safety vests.
A reported 800 residents in the area of Cassibile, some 15 kilometers from the Sicilian city of Siracusa, have signed a petition against the construction of a village meant to host seasonal farm workers.
The farmhands' union Ubs in Calabria has denounced yet another road accident involving a migrant worker. The Union stressed that that the security of foreign workers is not safeguarded.
Blueberries, redcurrants, cloud berries. Sweden’s forests are full of these tiny jewels growing wild, but the harvest and sorting is hard work. A Deutsche Welle documentary has lifted the lid on the thousands of mostly Thai migrant workers who suffer difficult conditions for the ‘privilege’ of being allowed to work at this job every year.
The Region of Puglia in southern Italy announced it will provide an additional €500,000 to ensure drinking water is supplied to informal migrant farm worker settlements in the region.
Three unions in the Italian city of Catania have set up two hotlines to report cases of exploitation of day laborers and gangmastering. Many farmworkers in the region are migrants.
Migrants at the tent camp of San Ferdinando in the southern province of Reggio Calabria on October 17 hurled stones at police officers guarding the area after the tent camp was declared a ''red zone'' by the Calabrian regional government. 15 residents had earlier tested positive for COVID-19.
The Italian farmers association Coldiretti said Monday that an interior ministry decree will make it possible for 18,000 non-EU seasonal workers to enter Italy. The association called it an "important measure for work in the fields in autumn."
Agricultural association Coldiretti has announced that it is opening a migrant hosting center near the southern Italian city of Potenza. The center will host over 200 seasonal workers inside a facility that is "dignified and respectful of healthcare norms," the farmers' association said.