Wikipedia:Treatment of Sikh workers in Italy

The Treatment of Sikh workers in Italy refers to the exploitation of Sikh Punjabi workers in Central Italy’s agricultural industry. The treatment of these workers has drawn accusations of modern-day slavery.



Background and causes
As per figures from within the community, there are more than 10,000 Sikh workers employed on farms in Central Italy alone. Irregular migration from the Indian state of Punjab has flourished since the 1990s with the majority of these young Punjabi men ending up in Italy and Spain. Many causes have been attributed to this trend including a false perception of Europe, corruption and a lack of opportunities in their home state. Different methods are used to go abroad, among them being the misuse of legal channels including, but not limited to bribery. 43% of these Sikh workers are unable to speak Italian leading to issues with accessing healthcare or reporting crimes. There is also an opioid crisis spreading among Sikh workers in Italy. There is also a social acceptance in Punjab relating to irregular migration with one resident of Punjab commenting:

"“Now people don’t feel ashamed of irregularly entering the Western countries. Sometimes they end up in jail while crossing international borders illegally, but now even going to jail is not a social stigma for emigrants and their families, rather it has become an accepted part of their emigration strategy.“"

Exploitation
Organised crime has a presence in the Italy's vegetable picking industry with an estimated €21.8bn being made in illegal profits.

Many of the Punjabi workers are expected to work for much less than minimum wage and former labourers have noted that the employers were often abusive and violent. An incident was noted were an Italian employer used a shotgun to keep his Sikh workers in line. There is also the issue of frequent non-payment of wages. Due to the nature of their work, the labourers often experience chronic back injuries, exposure to dangerous pesticides and overcrowded accusation. This has been said to be “routine” for Italy's Sikh farm worker population. Many workers have stated that they find the work to be humiliating including be shouted at and made to bow. Sikh workers have also been noted to be suffering from a “profound lack of social welfare”. In a study carried out by Nacchater Singh Garha on notions of masculinity in the Italian Sikh community, a Sikh migrant who was interviewed stated that:

"“We have no money or respect in the host society. Employers here treat us like slaves because they know we do not have papers [legal work and residence permit]. It gives us a sense of impotency.”"

Many of these workers also find themselves trapped in debt due to the costs associated with entering Italy. Reporters have noted that in the Province of Latina, south of Rome, Sikh workers have to work up to 14 hours a day and incidents of injury are covered up by the owners of the farms. In the 4 years from 2015, 14 Sikhs have committed suicide.

The situation of migrant workers generally in Italy was noted by the United Nations special rapporteur which estimated that that more than 400,000 agricultural workers in Italy risk being exploited and almost 100,000 likely face "inhumane conditions,". The same report from the UN noted that in Latina, there were 30,000 Sikh workers from India are subjected to extreme forms of coercion, including being forced to take performance-enhancing drugs, which is prohibited by their religion but which enables them to work 10–14 hours a day in the fields.