Italian authorities have reported six Pakistani citizens in Italy accused of exploiting at least 70 workers, who were given meager wages and forced to work in unseemly conditions to deliver advertising materials door to door.
Carabinieri police from the labour inspectorate in Pesaro in the Marche region reported six Pakistanis for exploitative gangmastering, known in Italian as caporalato. They said the suspects evaded 400,000 euros in taxes involving at least 70 irregular workers, who agreed to deliver advertising material door to door working as many as 12 hours a day for as little as 30 euros a day.
An investigation revealed that the company managing the advertising flyer distribution was made up of seven individual companies, all traced back to Pakistani citizens. The companies had contracts to distribute advertising material for large national retail chains and investigators said they used irregular workers to do so.
Unseemly conditions, exploitation, surveillance
The workers -- who had no alternative forms of income and were forced to live in precarious hygienic and sanitary conditions -- were recruited and transported in the province of Pesaro Urbino, as well as in Ancona and Rimini, with run-down and unsafe vans. All of them were forced to work in unseemly conditions and under continuous surveillance, as they followed pre-established routes. They were 'entrusted' to the control of a team boss, and were monitored through GPS systems, with the employers repeatedly violating labour laws regarding working hours and breaks.
The workers were paid just 30 euros a day, under the table. Investigators found non-compliant dormitories, some without heat or running water, with insufficient hygienic and sanitary conditions. The workers, exploited in this way, had no protection under the country's health and safety laws.
Tax evasion totaling 400,000 euros
Carabinieri police from the labour protection unit in Pesaro, together with personnel from the Venice labour protection unit, the Pesaro territorial labour inspectorate, and employees from pensions and social security agency INPS and workplace accident insurance agency INAIL, reported six foreigners for the crime of illegal labour brokering and labour exploitation.
The investigation revealed taxable income (the amount of unreported income upon which social security taxes are calculated for each worker) of €900,000, and €400,000 in tax evasion. The investigation found 70 irregular workers. Fines have been issued for labour law violations totaling about 730,000 euros, but it is unlikely that the fines will be paid.