Marco Omizzolo, Eurispes: ‘The focus on the exploitation of immigrant workers is good, but we were already talking about doping 10 years ago’
As Eurispes, we have been dealing with the phenomenon of labour exploitation in agriculture,’ explains Marco Omizzolo, sociologist and researcher at the institute, ‘denouncing through our publications and in our online magazine, since 2014, the problem of doped labourers to cope with long and exhausting working hours. In particular, I recall the dossier ‘Doping to work like slaves’.
Yet it is only today that major newspapers are presenting, almost as a scoop, the phenomenon of doping among farm workers.
The fact that public opinion is finally being informed about the existence of extreme phenomena such as this is certainly of interest and significant, so that such serious episodes can be brought to light.
In my opinion, however, the circumstance is indicative of the disappearance from the debate of the issue of a fairer distribution of wealth in the value chain of production chains. We have allowed society to split in two because of the gap between protected work and poor work – not only in agriculture but in all jobs, including intellectuals – characterised by low wages, insufficient to support the worker and his family and contrary to what is enshrined in Article 36 of our Constitution.
Something, however, is moving in Italy. Think, for example, of the various journalistic and judicial enquiries on the luxury goods industry, in which the tendency emerges towards the exasperated search for the lowest possible pay for production workers. Think also of the issue of riders and the fact that, when we speak of exploitation, this does not only concern the immigrant population, but increasingly a quota of Italians living in particular poverty. Therefore, the problem of a fairer distribution of the wealth created must be addressed culturally, politically, and in trade unions. With balance, gradualness and concreteness. And with an open approach that leads us to believe that a community where everyone can cultivate the real and tangible hope of being, at least, less worse off, is a fairer society.
For our part, as an institute, we will continue to explore and observe deviant or criminal themes and phenomena that are present but have not emerged, to offer our cognitive contribution, beyond false scoops.