Producing labour stratification: how migration policies affect the working, living and housing conditions of migrant farmworkers

ABSTRACT

Based on a long-term investigation of migrant farmworkers within the Sicilian agricultural districts, this paper aims to use the lens of migratory stratification to scrutinize the various changes that have occurred in the agricultural sector over the past decade. Drawing on ethnographic data from an empirical study conducted on the working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers, this paper will shed light on the economic and social stratification strategies fostered by EU migration policies. In line with the issues addressed in this special issue, the paper analyses how migrant regulatory procedures have resulted in the deterioration of migrant farmworkers’ working, living and housing conditions. Before the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, the stratification of migrant farmworkers was mainly based on country of origin and involved labourers due to different times of arrival and legal status; with the onset of the ‘refugee crisis’, the mechanisms of stratification and labour substitution mainly involved asylum seekers.

KEYWORDS:

• Migratory stratification
• informal labour
• farmworkers
• greenhouses
• Sicily

Acknowledgements

I thank the reviewers for reading the article and their significant suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This happened in 2013, before the entry into force of Law 199/2016 ‘Legge contro il caporalato’. Law 199/2016 distinguishes a case of illegal intermediation, independent of violent, threatening or intimidating behaviour, punishable by imprisonment of one to six years and a fine of 500 to 1,000 euro for each worker recruited. It also punishes, in the same way, the employer who uses, hires or employs labour by subjecting workers to exploitative conditions and taking advantage of their state of need, regardless of recruitment through caporalato (gangmasters). A case characterized by violence or threats for which a prison term of five to eight years and a fine of 1,000 to 2,000 euro for each recruited worker remains envisaged.

2. In agriculture, working days are calculated to obtain unemployment benefits. The worker obtains the benefits by exceeding 51 days up to 180 days, which is the maximum limit. Legislation allows employers to declare working days retroactively. As a result, in many cases employers declare fewer working days than those actually performed by workers (Caruso and Corrado 2021, 17). This circumstance is what is called ‘grey labour’.

3. An elaboration by CREA on data collected by INPS shows that in 2017 out of a total of 1,059,998 agricultural workers, the number of employees of foreign nationality was 364,385. Among employees of foreign origin, the top five nationalities represented were Romania, Morocco, India, Albania, and Poland, with an increase in the years between 2008 and 2017 of workers from Senegal (+164.22) and China (+1177.16) (Macrì 2019). However, the official data do not take into account the anomalies that characterize this sector and, in particular, the presence of undeclared and grey work. Considering the distribution between Italian and foreign employment in 2020, a decrease in the national labour force is evident: Italian employees made up 94% in 2008 and 81% in 2020; accordingly, foreign employment shows an increase from 6% in 2008 to 18.5% in 2020. Among the dependent labour force, domestic dependent agricultural workers decreased from 41.1% in 2008 to 36.5% in 2020; in contrast, foreign workers increased from 5.6% in 2008 to 17.8% in 2020 (Macrì 2021).

4. Italy is the leading agricultural producer in the European Union, with an added value produced of EUR 31.5 billion (18% of the total value of the EU28) and a total value of around EUR 55 billion. In 2017, Italian agri-food exports reached a record value of EUR 41.03 billion. In the last five years, they have increased by 23%, more than European exports (+16%) (Corrado, Lo Cascio and Perrotta 2018).

5. Within the Decree-Law n.34 of 19 May 2020 (the so-called ‘Decreto rilancio’), Article 103, titled ‘Emersione di rapporti di lavoro’ (‘Emergence of labour relations’), contained the rules for making official existing irregular labour relations with foreign nationals, as well as the extension of temporary residence permits to foreign nationals who were previously in possession of them and which expired after 31 October 2019.

6. Compared to the figures estimated by the government, in the agricultural sector 29,555 applications for emersion were submitted, while in the other key sector of the amnesty, domestic work, 176,848 applications were collected (see Caruso and Lo Cascio 2021).

7. The channels identified by the government to access the amnesty were mainly twofold. The first, identified in paragraph 1 of art. 103 of the DL Rilancio, provides for the issuance of a residence permit for subordinate work in the presence of an offer of new employment or the declaration of emersion of an existing irregular relationship in one of the following sectors: agriculture, livestock farming and related activities; domestic work and personal assistance. The duration of the residence permit is linked to the work contract and the initiation of the procedure is left to the initiative of the employer, who may be an Italian, European or non-EU citizen, provided that they hold an EU long-term residence permit pursuant to art. 9 of the Consolidated Act on Immigration. The second channel, referred to in paragraph 2 of the same article, provides for the issuance of a provisional residence permit, lasting six months, to non-EU citizens who have held a residence permit that expired after 31 October 2019 and have previously worked in one of the three sectors mentioned above (Caprioglio and Rigo 2020, 35).

8. The entry into force of the D.L. 113/2018 and 132/2018 and the D.M. 20 November 2018 (the so-called ‘Decreti Sicurezza’ or ‘Decreti Salvini’) reformed the law on international protection. The law changed the criteria for inclusion in the reception system, excluding asylum seekers from the so-called second level (SPRAR), reserved only for unaccompanied minors and holders of protection (SIPROIMI). Along with changes to the reception system, the law also abolished humanitarian protection, to make way for new and more precarious forms of residence permits. In October 2020, Law Decree 130/2020 (the so-called ‘Lamorgese Decree’) intervened to modify and overcome the most critical and unconstitutional aspects of the ‘Salvini Decrees’. Decree 20/2023 (the so-called ‘Piantedosi Decree’) amended the Lamorgese Decree in a restrictive key, rehabilitating the regulations of the previous Salvini Decree.

9. The most recent data which refers to 2021 shows that within the Ragusa province there was a population of 28,778 workers 14,772 Italian citizens and 14,006 non-EU and EU migrants. (Tunisian, 5307), Romanian (2632) and Albanian (2558). Moroccan (448), and Nigerian (207) (Palumbo 2022).

10. Data from the ISTAT census on Agriculture (2010) show that in Sicily crops account for more than 70% of the entire value of agricultural production, and among these standouts are: vegetables, which, with about 1 billion euro in value, account for 23% of the total; citrus fruits (560 million euro; 13%); wine products (440 million euro; 10%); cereals (300 million euro; 7%); and olive products (260 million euro; 6%). Of the total Italian production, that of vegetables in protected environments, developed mainly in the province of Ragusa (which hosts 57.8% of the island’s greenhouse farms), constitutes 22.4%, making it the leader (ISTAT 2010, 6th Census Agriculture 2010. Final Data Report for Sicily: 94).

11. According to data from the 2010 Istat census on agriculture, out of a total of 3,331 greenhouse farms in the province of Ragusa, 2,317 have a utilized agricultural area of less than two hectares.

12. Regarding the 2013 INPS registers, it appears that for the city of Vittoria out of a total of 10,035 agricultural workers, 48.45% (4,862) were of foreign origin: 2,166 were Tunisian workers, while 1,941 were from Romania. In the province of Ragusa, the number of foreign workers was 13,240, 49.08% of the total workers. Of the total number of foreign workers present in the Transformed Littoral Strip (13,240), according to INPS data for 2013, the most numerous were Romanian and Tunisian citizens: 4,349 Romanian workers (men and women), and 5,964 Tunisians (INPS 2013). From 2019 to 2021, the INPS registers of the province of Ragusa report a significant decrease in the presence of Romanian workers (−40%). The lists for the year 2021 count a total of 28,778 workers, of whom 14,772 were Italians and 14,006 were foreigners. First among the top ten nationalities was Tunisian (5,307), followed by Romanian (2,632) and Albanian (2,558). Far behind were Moroccan (448), Gambian (274), Senegalese (258), and Nigerian (207). According to CGIL Ragusa and ADIR, editors of the report on the nationalities present in agriculture, new nationalities depend on a widespread network of reception facilities and Pozzallo Hotspot.

13. Valeria Piro is the Author of the volume Migrant Farmworkers in ‘Plastic Factories’. Investigating Work-Life Struggles.

14. In 2013, the phenomenon of caporalato was not as present in this context as in others. Travels to and from the countryside were guaranteed by the employer or by improvised, informal taxi drivers.