Two entrepreneurs responsible for the crime of labor exploitation arrested. The order, issued by the investigating judge of Barcelona, was carried out by the soldiers of the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Messina. The detailed investigation activity made it possible to document a picture of serious and systematic violations of the law, carried out by the two Barcelona entrepreneurs operating in the automotive fuel retail sector to the detriment of nine employees responsible for managing the fuel dispensing stations. In addition to the house arrest against the two entrepreneurs, the simultaneous seizure of the sums of money lying in the current accounts in the name of the company up to an amount of over 352 thousand euros was ordered.
The operation originated from the story experienced by a worker assigned to the job of “fuel distribution worker” who, after being the victim of continuous harassment by his employer and by the fired man himself, had decided to turn to the Fiamme Gialle to report the unfair working conditions to which he and several of his collaborators had long been subjected at a fuel filling station.
The consequent investigations, in addition to allowing for better substantiation of the reported facts, have made it possible to formulate, on the basis of the evidence collected so far, the hypothesis of gangmaster crime, as numerous episodes of exploitation have been documented connected both to the application of a remuneration treatment which differs from the national collective agreements stipulated by the most representative trade union organizations and to the repeated violation of the legislation relating to working hours and rest periods.
In particular, it was verified that the entrepreneurs had: – imposed on the workers employed in the specific job the observance of 8-hour work shifts, indicating a daily working hours of 6 hours and 40 minutes on the pay slip; – unpaid, or partially paid, the increases foreseen for daytime and night-time overtime work as well as the allowances due for public holidays and those of the thirteenth and fourteenth month’s salary, in some cases demanding the refund of the same in cash, after having regularly paid them.
The activity also made it possible to demonstrate the state of need of workers forced to accept the precarious conditions proposed as they have no other sources of income to support their family members. The workers themselves, warned about the difficulties in accessing better pay than those offered by the company and continually threatened with dismissal, were, in fact, continually invited to evaluate the alternative of voluntary resignation if they did not prove inclined to accept the proposed working conditions.