-
The foreman pushes you.
-
He sees tomatoes on the ground
and screams,
-
"Pick them up!"
-
If there are any leftover, he pushes you
and slaps you.
-
He hurts you, he doesn't respect you.
That is slavery.
-
Slavery, not just exploitation.
-
Exploitation is unfair wages, but if they
push you,
-
you don't have papers and you sleep in
the ghetto, that is slavery,
-
you don't have papers and you sleep in
ghettos - that's slavery.
-
Modern day slavery does not require
chains.
-
What is happening here is slavery.
-
Slavery in Italy
-
A report from Katrin Sandmann and
Fritz Schapp
-
Yvan Sagnet refers to the over 400,000
african and eastern-workers
-
that work in the Italian agriculture
industry as slaves.
-
This man from Cameroon used to be
one of them.
-
Today, I fight for their rights
against a mafia-like competition system
-
disloyalty, abuse of power and exploitation.
-
Sañe wants to send the exploiters
to prison and put an end
-
to the inhuman living condiitons
of these workers.
-
These are typical living conditions
for the immigrants.
-
They use the fireplace for everything as
there's no power, light or running water.
-
Nothing at all.
-
But they manage; they use the fireplace
to heat and cook.
-
This is used as a table.
There's not even any oil.
-
And these are the plates they eat off.
-
Look, there are eight mattresses.
-
40 people sleep here.
-
See them?
-
They put 40 people in this room.
-
Plaster can fall on them as
they sleep
-
and it's too cold.
-
There's no glass in the windows. They're
covered with a metal sheet.
-
The immigrants have to buy
-
almost everything they need to survive
-
from the intermediaries, called leaders.
-
Sometimes they come from the same
countries as the workers.
-
For a rotten mattress, they ask
for 10 euros.
-
Italians live in that yellow house.
Not foreigners, Italians.
-
But they get on with the leaders.
-
It's the only house in the area with
running water and power.
-
The ones who live here have to go there
to charge their phones, for example.
-
Because there's nothing here.
-
And they charge 50 cents for each charge
and €1 or €1.50 for a wash.
-
It makes me cry. I am so disgusted
when I see that there are
-
people who have to live in these
conditions in 21st century Italy.
-
It's horrible, it's dreadful, and everyone
knows it.
-
Everyone knows it but they don't care
because it's about immigrants.
-
The treat immigrants like animals.
-
They only want them to work so
-
the farmers' and politicians' businesses
make money.
-
They aren't considered human.
-
This is Italy, welcome to Italy.
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The immigrants that live here are totally
controlled by the leaders
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who are organised like a kind of mafia.
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When the farmers need labour
for the fields,
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they call the intermediaries who abuse
their power
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to exploit and control the migrants.
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And they can do it because they live
alongside them in the ghettos.
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The regions of Apulia and Basilicata in
the south of Italy
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are the country's biggest vegetable
producers.
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30% of Italian tomatoes are harvested
in Apulia alone.
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The large ghettos are often in solitaly
areas surrounding
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the crop fields.
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Cities of misery grow there.
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If we go in, we'll have to use a hidden
camera. Put the big camera down.
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The leaders don't like camaras.
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They'd show their illegal behaviour.
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And the immigrants are ashamed to be seen
living in the ghettos.
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They are ashamed to be recorded.
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They'd be ashamed if people in their
country could see them like this.
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Because every time they speak to their
parents, they tell them a completely
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different story where they are lawyers
or work in an office.
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They lie simply because they're ashamed
to admit
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what their life is really like.
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During the harvest, more than
3,000 people live here.
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Most of them are from Africa.
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They are people who arrived on the
coasts of Italy decades ago,
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the immigrants who Europe has been
leaving alone in Italy for years.
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Some have papers. Some are illegal.
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The Italian government looks the other way
because without cheap labour,
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the harvests would go to waste.
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There's rubbish everywhere,
it attracts flies and mosquitos.
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In there ghettos, there's neither
rubbish collection nor laws.
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This land, where the strongest rule,
is dangerous for Yvan.
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He suspects this is where the
death threats are coming from.
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The leaders who live here know
that he's the most determined enemy.
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Yvan has spent years gathering proof of
their illegal behaviour in such fields.
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He's looking for witnesses and
identifying criminals.
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That's why he knows many of the
inhabitants and their stories,
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like the one of this man from Sudan.
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He fled to Italy 20 years ago.
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His European dream ended in a hut
where he sells second hand clothes.
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His customers are refugees from
all around the world.
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Suddenly a man approaches Yvan.
He's a leader.
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He exaggerates his nervousness, but
he urges us to leave.
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We want to put an end to these ghettos
once and for all.
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We demand structures, water, light
kitchens, decent bedrooms,
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and my dream is to achieve all this
with NOCAP.
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Roma. Yvan Sagnet lives and works in the
city centre, near the Vatican.
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Here in his apartment, he founded NOCAP,
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a certification system for
ethically-produced food.
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NOCAP is based on article 4 of the
universal declaration of human rights,
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which says "Nobody must be submitted
to slavery or servitude.
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Slavery and slave handling are prohibited
in all their forms."
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NOCAP is an organisation that says "no"
to the leader system.
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And opposes it with a labelling system.
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We put these labels on products from all
the farmers who don't exploit
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their workers, after checking that
they respect the workers' rights.
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We have started a collaboration with
an association of small farmers
-
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called "Altra-Agricultura".
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There are sixty thousand producers.
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That's how we've started with a small
and solid base.
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Yvan's commitment to human rights and
his bravery when it comes to calling out
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and reporting the mafioso structures
in agriculture
-
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is valued by the Italian president,
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Sergio Matarella, who awarded him a
a knighthood in 2017.
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It was a great moment in my life.
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It was an amazing momen, because I
received recognition from a country
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of which I don't have citizenship.
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I'm not Italian, I'm still Camaroonian
at the moment.
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And receiving an award from Italy made
me so happy.
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[Singing in Italian]
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Yvan became a father in 2017. It's a year
full of happiness.
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But it is overshadowed by death threats.
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His enemies know that Yvan is ready to
take them to the supreme court.
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Verónica, his wife, fears the outcome.
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[Singing in Italian]
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Unfortunately, the death threats indicate
how well he's doing his job,
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how much he's obstructing the
interests of the powerful.
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And naturally, as his family,
that worries us.
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Especially when he goes to the places
those death threats come from.
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We pray for him so that he might achieve
what he wants without coming to harm.
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Yvan has proved that he's very brave
and obstinate,
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and he's shown us that it's possible
to change things, little by little,
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by working hard and making sacrifices.
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And he has my support in that battle
he fights every day.
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Yvan arrived in Italy in 2007, the country
he'd admired since childhood,
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not to fight, but to study.
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It was all going well until he failed
an exam
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and lost his grant at Turin University.
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His desperate search for work led
him to Nardó, in the south,
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to the tomato harvest.
-
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Yvan Sagnet arrived at this farm on
10 July 2011,
-
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and something happened that changed
his life forever.
-
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Today, this 33 year-old is returning
to the outskirts of the place
-
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where, at the time, there were thousand of
African workers in dome tents,
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under plastic covers or outdoors.
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This was incredibly dirty and
it was very hot,
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and I asked God, "What is this? Where have
I ended up?"
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I, who was living in a normal environment
in Turin,
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where I was living in normal house,
a student residence
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with a bath, my own room, a bed.
-
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And suddenly I found myself in a place
sleeping on a mattress outdoors.
-
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While exploring the terrain, Yvan
discovers that
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there are harvest workers here again.
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There aren't many, but their conditions
are no better than back then.
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Three days after he arrived, he met
a leader called Meki.
-
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He was from Sudan. A big strong guy.
-
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Yvan spent four days in the fields
under Meki's brutal control.
-
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He was paid one euro for every
100 kilos of tomatoes picked.
-
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He earnt a total of 14 kilos on day one.
-
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From that, he had to pay 10 to Meki for
transport, food and water.
-
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After a 14-hour day under the hot sun
and beatings,
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he was left with four euros.
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That's it. And it would be even worse
if you got ill.
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I remember a co-worker who fainted
suddenly because of the sun.
-
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It was too hot. He fell to the floor.
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Damn, it was really hard.
-
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I was next to him when he fell and I asked
him what happened, what should I do.
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I went to find water and
poured it on him.
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I told the leader he needed to go
to hospital.
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But there wasn't one nearby.
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The neares hospital was a long way away.
-
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And the leader answered: "Leave him there.
If you want him to go to hospiral,
-
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I'll charge you 50 euros
for the transport."
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That isn't even exploitation.
It's slavery.
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The man barely survived the collapse
in the field.
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I worked for five days and on the fifth,
we said "Enough. We're exhausted.
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We want a contract. We want our
rights to be recognised.
-
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We're fed up of being
treated like slaves."
-
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Yvan called for a strike, the first
among the workers.
-
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The men from the ghetto follow him.
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The local TV channel, Teleama, reported
on the event.
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The death threats made Yvan flee,
but his indignation made him return.
-
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When three months later, the harvest was
in danger of rotting,
-
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the farmers gave up and offered more
money and work contracts.
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The govenment of Rome passed a law
against the brutal leader system.
-
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Shortly afterwards, Yvan brough the first
case against owners and supervisors.
-
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Yvan has dedicated his life to the fight
for human rights,
-
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and today he's fighting on several fronts:
In industrial zones,
-
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in the fields, in the courts, and
increasingly at the negotiation tables.
-
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Here in Basilicata, he's meeting with
some farmers.
-
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And he needs speakers from the
-
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direct employers of the workers.
-
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The meeting was organised by Yvan's
main ally,
-
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the trade unionist Gianni Fabris.
-
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The production of fruit and vegetables
in Italy is abysmal.
-
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Our products are subjected to
"price dumping".
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The sellers tell the farmers
"I will pay the same
-
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for your peaches as I pay for those
from Morocco or Turkey.
-
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They are cheaper than yours. If you
want to sell them, that's the price."
-
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This is the reality in the
Italian countryside.
-
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The food industry corporations
keep the system as it isl.
-
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They lower the prices to the minimum,
leaving no margin for the farmers to pay
-
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the workers, meaning the system dictates
they have to exploit their workers.
-
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Yvan is trying to find a solution with
farmers and trade unions.
-
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We need to raise awareness
and ask consumers
-
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to take more social responsibility.
-
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The consumer needs to be aware that for
every kilo of tomatoes they buy,
-
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there is a job.
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A job that exploits workers, or one that
-
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is ethically sound.
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If they don't rething it, we're dead.
-
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A few days later, Yvan gets a message that
cheers him up.
-
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An Italian supermarket chain offered
him a first deal.
-
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They committed to buying NOCAP products,
-
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for a value of up to a million euros
for the first consigment.
-
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A great incentive for all those who
want to work with Yvan.
-
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Yvan demonstrates the work of the NOCAP
system in Grazán.
-
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Here, the farmer picks up the workers
himself and doesn't leave transport
-
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in the hands of the intermediaries.
-
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The vans consitute the power
of the supervisor.
-
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They take the workers to the fields.
-
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There is no public transport.
-
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This means the leaders are in charge of
transporting them and abuse the situation.
-
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The leaders put up to 30 people
in one vehicle with a maximum
-
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of 8 passengers permitted.
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I can assure you that a journey in those
overloaded vans is horrible.
-
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Most of them have no window because
the leaders don't want the police to see
-
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how many people they're carrying.
-
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There's almost no air, and there
are deaths every year.
-
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In August 2008, two totally packed vans
-
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crashed in a few days.
-
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16 African workers died.
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I will do it differently. These lads
are workers who've come here
-
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in a normal vehicle.
-
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They haven't had to pay for transport.
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As you can see, their clothes are white.
They're working clothes.
-
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They also wear protective
masks and gloves.
-
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We take care of occupational safety.
-
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Before starting work here, everyone
signs a work contract.
-
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And the salary is in accordance
with the law.
-
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In this field, they're going to pick the
last tomatoes of the season.
-
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One of the workers, Tómas, from Ghana,
agrees to talk for a moment.
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We don't usually have a contract, because
in Europe and Italy, you need
-
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permits and contracts to find
a decent job.
-
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That means that often we don't
leave the ghettos.
-
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You believe we're bad people or that we're
not human beings.
-
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Bur we are people, with a
different skin colour.
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We have blood in our veins. We're all one.
We're all human.
-
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The man in whose fields Tómas and
the others are working thinks the same.
-
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Giuseppe Viniola's family have been
growing organic vegetables for 30 years.
-
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Viniola signs a contract with the workers.
Like an increasing amount of farmers,
-
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he's trying to leave behind the system
which, due to extreme price pressure,
-
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makes him an exploiter.
-
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I think the leader system is the worst
possible error,
-
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because it means you employee a workforce
which you are ultimately exploiting.
-
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The tomato harvest is very hard so
-
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it's essential to recognise the value
of their work.
-
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That's why it's important to sign
contracts and protect the workers.
-
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We pay €5 net per hour plus contributions
for the tomato harvest.
-
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That's double the amount paid by
leadership systems.
-
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We must change the system from the roots
up when it comes to the tomato harvest.
-
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There are great difficulties and it's
extremely hard to fight
-
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against those prices.
-
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An Italian trade unionist worked out what
needs to happen to solve this.
-
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If the large commercial chains were to pay
the farmers,
-
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just two cents more per kilo of tomatoes,
they would have 235 million euros
-
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of additional turnover.
-
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This would allow them to provide the
workers with dignified
-
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accomodation and working conditions.
-
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And the problem with the leaders would
be resolved.
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The end of October.
Lecce, in the south of Italy.
-
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Yvan's fight against the leaders and
producers began five years ago.
-
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This is where he had his biggest success.
A conviction in the first instance.
-
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But now the court could also be
the setting for his worst defeat.
-
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The appeal process begins today.
-
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At the first hearing, nine supervisors
were sentenced to 11 years in prison.
-
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They were declared guilty of slavery, and
nine supervisors and
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three Italian farmers were sentenced.
-
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To begin with, about 50 of us testified
against those who exploited us
-
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to the police.
-
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We reported them all by name.
-
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Today, there are only eight remaining
who are brave enough to testify.
-
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I am the main witness.
-
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Their enemies, sitting on the
accused bench,
-
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defend themselves with every means.
-
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The farmers have a team of
expensive lawyers.
-
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Yvan isn't happy.
-
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"They all exploit workers.
-
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I am one of their victime and I
stand by my statement.
-
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If the conviction were confirmed
at the end of the appeal,
-
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it would be an extraordinary success for
Yvan Sagnet,
-
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although for now, it would only
be symbolic.
-
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This process hasn't changed
the working conditions
-
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of the workers in the fields.
-
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Of course, the leader system still
rules all over Italy.
-
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And the bad living conditions of the
people in the ghettos persists,
-
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they still have no water or light.
-
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I was always aware that this process
wouldn't be enough to change everything.
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However, Yvan Sagnet believes that
the process is a milestone.
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It's worth fighting. We live in a world
where you have to fight for your rights,
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because if you don't fight,
nothing will change.
-
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Change will only be achieved by fighting,
and we're ready.