He made them work up to ten hours a day, without protection, for very little money and obviously illegally.
A 39-year-old entrepreneur from Cagliari, owner of an agricultural company in Monastir, was arrested by the State Police, with the staff of the Provincial Labor Inspectorate of Cagliari - Oristano, on charges of labor exploitation . According to the accusations, the man exploited citizens originating from the sub-Saharan area, some of whom were asylum seekers hosted at the Monastir Extraordinary Reception Centre.
The investigation originated from a report received by the Labor Inspectors of the provincial headquarters of Cagliari. It is from here that the police had the first findings, alleged anomalies in certain hirings made by the owner of the company who, however , did not report the due salaries and therefore did not pay the required social security contributions. Some of these labourers, foreign asylum seekers, did not even have the basic requirements to be employed, also considering that, due to their status and origin, they were particularly vulnerable.
The Widespread and Foreign Crime Section of the Flying Squad identified the foreigners employed and from their stories the conditions of exploitation emerged : «Daily employment of 8/10 hours with a short break for lunch which the worker brought independently, as well as the water for drinking - it is reconstruction - absence of personal protection material and adequate rooms for breaks; remuneration clearly different from collective agreements at a national level and in any case disproportionate to the quantity and quality of the work performed (meager pay and remuneration of the remaining dues at 5 euros per hour and illegally)".
A few days ago the Flying Squad investigators, together with the Labor Inspectorate staff, entered the land owned by the suspect, finding five laborers intent on working in the vegetable field . The owner of the company, who was there, was arrested and placed under house arrest. The arrest was then validated with the application of the mandatory signature measure.
