Italian labour minister launches summer crackdown on agricultural exploitation after Amendolara murders

Following the brutal killing of four migrant farm workers in Amendolara, Minister of Labour Marina Calderone held an emergency summit in Reggio Calabria with regional officials, the interior ministry and labour inspectors. She announced a summer‑long programme of extraordinary inspections across the agricultural sector, an increase in labour inspectors and Carabinieri of the Labour Protection Command, and enhanced data sharing between inspection agencies. Calderone highlighted the new Article 18‑ter of the 2024 decree law, which offers residence permits, immediate financial aid and reintegration support to workers who report exploiters.

The CGIA research centre in Mestre warned that the Amendolara case has refocused attention on caporalato – the illegal labour recruitment system that thrives on black‑market work. Its latest study shows Calabria has the highest share of irregular employment in Italy (17.9% of the regional workforce), with the agricultural sector reporting a 20.8% irregularity rate. The centre also flagged the rise of “digital caporalato”, where platforms and algorithms control worker conditions, expanding exploitation beyond farms to construction, logistics and home‑care services.