Labor exploitation and gangmastering in Monferrato: three complaints and 15 workers discovered

Conditions of alleged gangmastering and exploitation were discovered by the carabinieri of the Moncalvo station and the Labor Inspectorate Unit (Nil) of Asti in the countryside of lower Monferrato. The operation ended with the denunciation of three people, including two Romanian citizens residing in Casale Monferrato (father and son) believed to be the managers of the illicit system, and a local agricultural entrepreneur.

The investigations began after reports of an unusual coming and going of foreigners from a dilapidated house in the center of Grazzano Badoglio. Inside the building the soldiers found 15 beds and mattresses on the floor, a makeshift electrical system, precarious hygienic conditions and severely inadequate toilets for the guests, all Romanian citizens. Workers were systematically stripped of their identity documents upon arrival.

The corporals recruited the workforce to use in the fields, picking them up at dawn to accompany them to the vineyards, including a company in Castelletto Merli. Here the laborers worked illegally, without health protection and safety devices, receiving a wage of just two euros an hour. Of the total compensation, managers kept more than half for room and board. For the agricultural entrepreneur, criminal and administrative sanctions of 42,000 euros and the suspension of the activity were imposed; the three suspects will have to answer for illicit intermediation and labor exploitation to the Vercelli prosecutor's office.