Italian Winery Practices Shed Light on Implications of Continued European Labor Abuses

With recent discoveries providing surmounting evidence, activists are drawing attention to the ongoing abuse in Italy’s wine vineyards. Source: WineEnthusiast.com

A recent report has found that ongoing abusive labor practices have characterized Italy’s history of vineyard farming. These practices are especially apparent when undocumented migrant workers are the ones behind the labor. From working for as little as $3.27 an hour to facing systemic racism, Italian workers consistently endure exploitation, drawing questions about whether change is possible in the European country and other nations with rampant abusive labor practices. 

Italy’s migrant abuses stem from a history of its “caporalato” system. This system involves the illegal intermediation and recruitment of migrant workers by middlemen (caporalati) that agricultural farmers have outsourced. Dominant demands for cheap agricultural labor have historically combined with migrant workers’ poor documentation and low status to create an environment ripe for exploitation. Furthermore, in 2018, Italy passed the Salvini decree, a law which made any humanitarian protections for migrants illegal. With this bill’s passing and continuing labor demands from Italy’s rich agricultural industry, the caporalato system has been able to persist for decades. 

The caporalato system’s effects have effectively created a system of modern slavery in Italy. Many Italian migrant workers originate from Eastern Europe and North Africa. Frequently entering into Italy through illegal smuggling, many of these migrants arrive seeking the improved living conditions Italy offers. In 2023 alone, over 83,000 migrants crossed the central Mediterranean while more than 400,000 undocumented migrants currently work in the Italian agricultural system. Upon arrival, these migrants are often left with limited opportunities for documentation and job positions. With financial instability and a need to support themselves, many migrants turn to undocumented labor, thus the persistence of the caporalato system. Under these systems migrants are left without a contract, legal status, or any real rights, making it virtually impossible to fight for better conditions or recognition of rights violations. 

The exact terms of these inhumane conditions include grueling 12-hour shifts, minimum, under sweltering heat. These shifts are entirely dictated by labor "gangmasters" who control every aspect of the workday. Constant surveillance denies workers basic needs like bathroom breaks, rest periods, or even water. Beyond physical abuse, workers are often subjected to racist remarks. Gangmasters frequently steal or significantly reduce the wages they had previously agreed upon. Even when workers are paid, it's often much later than expected, leaving workers and their families struggling to survive.

The working conditions Italy currently harbors are not an anomaly in the global labor system. Nations around the world face demands for cheap labor, often meeting that demand with vulnerable undocumented workers. For decades, an international market for goods and capital has created a high level of global interdependence, through which exploitative labor systems have been able to thrive. 

In 2020 the number of international migrants grew to 281 million and has continued to remain at high levels across the globe. With these high levels of migration, a lack of regulations and awareness has perpetuated a system of modern slavery around the globe. Take, for instance, the International Labour Organization’s finding that around 27.6 million people were living in forced labor in 2022. Recent estimates have concluded that over 60 percent of jobs in middle- and low-income countries are in the informal sector, which encompasses the agricultural labor exploitation seen in Italy’s wine fields. Millions of migrants face echoes of Italy’s conditions. With undocumented numbers rising, those leading the abuse face no incentive to protect their migrants whom they consider expendable. 

Furthermore, anti-immigration sentiments have made it even harder for migrants to obtain citizenship and the corresponding rights and legal working conditions granted to citizens. Increasing anti-immigration rhetoric means migrants often feel helpless when facing exploitative systems. Fear of deportation for themselves and their families creates hesitancy to report rights violations. Furthermore, anti-immigration policies engaged with by right-wing governments across the West largely prioritize reducing governmental regulations. These values make it more difficult for government policies to prevent exploitation and labor law violations. 

So what can be done about these inherently exploitative systems of labor, especially for undocumented migrants internationally? Labor regulations are obviously a required change, but regulations can be convoluted or fail to target all aspects of institutional exploitation. 

In response to this complexity, the World Bank established an independent review to investigate definitive solutions to the exploitative labor that appears to be ingrained in global economies. The review divided necessary regulations into four categories. “Employment contracts, minimum wages, dismissal procedures, and unemployment benefits” are defined as necessary aspects of revision to combat the consistently high level of labor abuses across Europe and the world. The World Bank went on to offer some general principles of revision for governmental labor laws and principles. However, it’s essential to clarify that there is currently no blueprint for labor regulations. No blueprint can really ever exist–country characteristics determined by their socioeconomic, cultural, and political environment are too nuanced and varied to follow set universal guidelines. 

Thus, to combat the continuing labor exploitation, it is up to individual nations and public pressure to ensure change occurs. Without accountability in government, migrant laborers such as the undocumented wine vineyard workers in Italy will continue to face inexcusable labor conditions. Nations must overcome their anti-immigration sentiments or other barriers to inclusive policy in order to protect against labor rights violations. Only then will undocumented laborers achieve the representation and awareness they need to combat the institutional failures ingrained in the global economic system.