"In order to beat drug trafficking, alternatives in labour management are needed"

It would be a mistake to say that nothing has been done so far in the fight against 'caporalato' in agriculture. But it is a fact that much remains to be done. This is the summary on irregular work in agriculture that the Uila general secretary, Enrica Mammucari, outlined at today's meeting on 19 February of the anti-corporal work table at the Ministry of Labour.

'Italia is the country that has the most advanced legislation on the subject,' he explains, 'For some time now, with Law 199/2016 and the provision of Article 603 bis of the Penal Code, penalties against 'caporalato' have been toughened. Progress has been made on social conditionality, a principle that has also been incorporated into the Common Agricultural Policy. It means that if a company is guilty of the crime of labour exploitation, EU contributions are cut or denied. At the last meeting with the Ministers of Labour and Agriculture, Agea told us that it had ordered the first withdrawals of EU aid. An important first step has been taken, we need to complete the journey'.

According to data processed by Uila on the basis of the results of the registers, in the last ten years there has been a 17.9% increase in workers born outside Italia but employed in Italian fields. While at the same time there has been an 11.6% drop in the Italian labour force over the same period. In addition, in 2024 fixed-term agricultural labour (contracts that cover 86% of regular labour relations in agriculture) from abroad reached 42%, the highest share ten years ago was 35%.

The issues to be addressed are controls and the database of contracts in agriculture. 'Inspectors,' adds the general secretary, 'must be increased and trained. They must have specific skills on the agricultural contract and on social security and welfare. We must invest'.

Also to be fully implemented are the measures of the Agriculture Decree, Law 63/2024, which introduced the single control system and the database of contracts in agriculture. "Fundamental is the coordination between Inps and Agea, which, with its geospatial checks, is able to identify individual farms and specific crops. If a company has a 10-hectare vineyard, it cannot employ two people to do the grape harvest'.