Published the Report “The housing conditions of migrants working in the agri-food sector” of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies and of the National Association of Italian Municipalities
Labor exploitation and illegal hiring in the agricultural sector are phenomena subject to scientific research and journalistic investigation which, following some news and some investigations, have described the most relevant characteristics.
The following research (can be consulted in this link: https://www.lavoro.gov.it/stampa-e-media/Comunicati/Documents/Rapporto-Le-condizioni-abitative-dei-migranti-settore-agroalimentare.pdf) first national investigation on the housing conditions of migrants employed in the agri-food sector, as the result of the collaboration between the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies and Anci, is part of the three-year plan to fight labor exploitation in agriculture and against illegal hiring 2020-2022 and is aimed at mapping the situations of hardship and uncertain housing conditions in which foreign workers employed in the agri-food sector find themselves throughout the national territory, identifying areas exposed to greater risk and towards which priority actions are addressed regarding decent housing solutions.
Carried out in collaboration with mayors, councilors, managers, officials and employees of 3,851 Italian municipalities which took part in the census between October 2021 and January 2022 based on well detailed presences, settlements, characteristics and services in the area, this investigation makes the merit for contributing to the awareness of a problem that is often ignored or of which little is known.
Although considering differences and peculiarity, it is essential to certify that this variable and complex reality concerns the entire Italian territory and requires an overall rating of the phenomenon.
The rate of the movements on the national territory are marked by the ripening times of the products to be harvested in a cycle form that is repeated from year to year.
If the South is the geographical area where overall there is the highest number of foreign workers based on the seasonal harvests, Lombardy and Piedmont are the regions of the North whose municipalities have declared the greatest presence of foreign agricultural laborers and wedge is the province with the largest number of housing facilities, temporary or stable activated by public or private entities in which the workers live.
In temporary or stable housing facilities, according to estimates, about 7 thousand migrant agricultural workers find accommodation. The types were aggregated in private homes, temporary or stable housing structures activated by public or private entities and informal settlements. Reporting on cases involving illegal gang mastering incidents shows that the situation is more critical in informal settlements than in formal ones. There are a total of 11 regions where there are municipalities affected by the phenomenon of informal settlements. The Region with the most municipalities characterized by the phenomenon is Puglia (12 units), followed by Sicily (8 units), Calabria (5 units) and Campania (3 units). These first four Regions, partners of the Su.Pr.Eme project, cover almost 75% of the municipalities with the presence of informal settlements. It should be noted that among the list of informal settlements there are no municipalities located in Basilicata, the fifth and last region included in the project of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies.