US Consulate in Milan: first compensations to workers
by Sara Monaci
The investigation into forced labour on the construction sites of the American consulate in Milan brings the first practical results for the workers: a few days after the commissioning of the Caddell company (based in Alabama), an agreement was reached that the workers will no longer work on Saturdays; they will not exceed 45 hours a week; board and lodging will no longer be deducted from their pay packets. At this point, the company, winner of the 350 million contract, will have to take on more people, and find a way to pay compensation for the past. This will significantly alter the initially budgeted costs.
In the meantime, the investigation coordinated by prosecutor Paolo Storari is expanding. In addition to the company Caddell Construction and its legal representative Ulkas Demir, two days ago another suspect was added, stopped by the police while trying to escape. His name is Aji Appukuttan, born in India, 52 years old.
He was arranging to take a bus or another means of transport two days ago to escape. The labour protection unit of the Milan Carabinieri, who followed the investigation, stopped him.
He was in charge of personnel management. He also allegedly exerted pressure on the workers at the construction site 'ordering them not to speak and not to report outside what was happening there'. The arrest of the man - ordered by the public prosecutor's office after last Sunday's arrest of the legal representative who was trying to embark from Orio al Serio to Istanbul - was necessary because, as stated in the order, from the testimonies collected by the Carabinieri among the workers, 'he wanted to escape from Italia, only he understood that the plane was dangerous. So he was organising himself knowing that the Indian workers talked about him'.
The man is described in the minutes as the 'watchdog' of the American multinational, and is considered by the investigators to be the 'operational corporal' and the intermediary of the exploitation system on the New Delhi-Milan axis discovered at the construction site.
