The past summer season has also been characterized for several years by calls on television and in newspapers from hoteliers, restaurateurs and seaside entrepreneurs who complained that they could not find staff. Bartenders, waiters, cooks, lifeguards, entertainers: It seems like no one wants to do these jobs anymore. But there is also the other side of the coin: even the last summer working season in Romagna was characterized by irregular contracts, ‘illegal’ workers, extra wages, unpaid overtime and all the usual irregularities that characterize the tourism work sector. where exploitation has now become structural.
Just a few months ago, the National Labor Inspectorate, together with the Carabinieri for labor protection, carried out a major emergency surveillance operation throughout Italy, concerning the tourism and public sector sectors, aimed precisely at combating submerged work and verifying compliance with sanitary rules. and security regulations. It turns out that almost 4 out of 5 companies are unregulated, or 76% of 445 companies are under control.
Repeating what I did before the start of last summer season, I spoke to several people working at various levels in the seasonal sector in Romagna in the summer of 2023. In summary, what emerges is that years pass, but this is the situation. and working conditions unfortunately do not change.
But first, a necessary proposition: Due to space constraints, this article talks about “only” six seasonal workers. But among the dozens of people I interviewed last year, I have not come across a single person who told me about fair working conditions or defended the industry. Of course, there are also serious seasonal entrepreneurs, and it is – always – wrong to lump them all together: But frankly, it is not that easy to find them.
“70 hours a week for 1500 euros, they told me it was very tiring”
Giorgia was 24 years old and worked in a bathhouse on the coast of Ravenna during the summer months. “Although I had various experiences as a bartender and eventually found myself also working as a waiter, I was hired as an apprentice bartender – it says, I had a contract of 40 hours a week with a day off and a salary of 1500 euros but he quickly told me that I would not have a day off and told me They said they would pay overtime.” The reality turned out to be very different: “I worked 60 hours a week plus 10 hours on Saturday evenings, these 10 people paid at least illegally and separately around 130 euros. Not to mention the cleaning we did at the end of each hour. When we tried to complain, the owners told us They said the salary was a “fixed wage” of 1500 euros, regardless of the number of hours we worked, and when I tried to say something once, they answered right away. They accused me of “overtaxing”. Moreover, there were safety issues: They showed me that I had bought safety shoes that I never actually bought. “They forced me to sign a document. I’d like to sue them, but they don’t have the money to do it and they’re so ‘big’, I know they’ll keep doing what they’ve been doing for years. But I’m definitely not coming back next year.”
“My little son was employed as a lifeguard without a license”
Giacomo is a chef and has 36 years of history in the restaurant business. Last season he also worked in a large factory on the coast of Ravenna. “I was working 10 hours a day without a day of rest,” he explains. In reality, according to the contract, I was supposed to work 40 hours a week and get one day off. I received 1700 euros from my salary plus an extra amount. Moreover, my son and my partner also started working there and it was only at the end of the season that I discovered that they had never been regularized. Then a very serious incident happened to my underage son: he was a lifeguard during the season. We caught Covid, they told us not to take swabs to avoid losing more personnel, and my son was employed as a lifeguard even though he did not have a certificate. There were many children in the pool, but they preferred to risk drowning soon. My son tried to react, but they threatened him by saying they would leave him at home. At that point, I never saw us again: we all resigned and went to the inspectorate. I don’t even need to say this. non-existent receipts and checks: all kitchens have emergency exits, and when inspection comes, those who do not comply with the rules are forced to leave or hide in the bathroom. “But we also got ‘heads up’ checks and everyone who didn’t follow the rules that day stayed home.”
“I slept 13 hours a day for 4 euros an hour, in a dilapidated house with mice.”
Lucia was 23 years old and was working at a campsite on the coast of Ravenna in the summer of 2023. “I had a contract as an apprentice chambermaid, although I had experience in this job and was therefore not an apprentice. In fact, they immediately appointed me as chamber manager – says the girl – According to the contract, I was also to work 40 hours a week for 1300 euros per month: in fact every day at 10 in the morning I was working from 10am to 1pm, 10am to 5pm, then 6pm to closing time which was usually midnight to 2am, but if the parties went further, I would be accommodated I also had space, so to speak… A dilapidated small house, literally about to collapse. This summer my wardrobe fell on me and before that I was in another small house whose roof collapsed and we also found Mold, mouse droppings. 3-4 people live in each small house “But they are really small. Instead, they fed us expired products and in fact most of us workers were sick. We complain to ourselves or we talk about wages and then we get angry.”
“After the injury they stopped giving me free kicks as revenge”
Filippo, who is 43 years old and has many “seasons” behind him, worked last summer as a sous chef at a restaurant in the most touristy area of Ravenna. “They gave me a 40-hour-a-week contract in April, but in reality I worked at least 55 hours.” This means that Filippo “gifts” approximately 60 unpaid hours to his employer each month. All of them amount to a net of 1385 euros in the payroll: As is often the case with seasonal contracts, this figure also includes holidays, leaves, thirteenth and fourteenth salaries (these are “diluted” every month). “The owner also promised to give me 200 euros from his pocket every month, but after I got injured at work and went on sick leave, he did not give me this money out of spite. Then I often skipped rest days. : In this case, I was given a full day’s work in exchange for 8-9 hours of work. I was paid 50 euros. But last year things got worse for me: I had a 24-hour contract and was working at least twice that amount. I had a dispute and ended up getting 2400 euros, but when I worked there for 4 years I calculated that I should have received almost 11 thousand euros and As for checks, in my many years of work I can say this: I have never seen one, and we have already been “trained” to know what to answer. They say we could not find personnel, but the conditions are such…”.
“Everyone knows seasonal contracts are not being respected, so why don’t they increase checks?”
Cristina is only 20 years old, but her CV already “boasts” three seasons of work in the Romagna Riviera. The newest of one of the busiest bathing establishments on the coast of Ravenna. “I was hired as a waiter on a part-time contract for 20 hours a week, but they immediately told me it would be more – he says – I actually worked about fifty hours a week. In June I earned 1200 euros, in July and August 1400, holidays, severance pay and other with everything. These places focus so much on creating the idea of family because you would never stand up to a family member even if they paid you very little. It was exhausting and dehumanizing work, by the end of the service I felt more like a thinking being. And yet I was among the lucky ones because I worked in a very large place: I also know other girls who are treated much worse in different bathing establishments. Now everyone knows that contracts are not respected in seasonal work, so why don’t they increase the checks? Also, considering that this is a sector where most young people are employed and who often do not “I don’t know how they’re going to read pay slips, I think there’s a need for more training too, maybe already at school.”
“I got sick from working 12 hours a day and eating expired food.”
Ambra, a 21-year-old graduate of the Hotel Management Institute, was working at a steakhouse by the sea in the summer of 2022. “According to the contract, I was required to work part-time for 4 hours a day and earn eight euros per hour, being classified as a kitchen assistant. In reality, it was a sub-classification, because I was working as a chef de partie (sector manager) in the main kitchen. Not only that: from eight to midnight a day I was working up to 12 hours, the hygiene conditions at that time… They did not ensure that we abide by HACCP rules, they made us employees eat expired food, they kept the items away. The refrigerator, the kitchen were dirty, the hood was never cleaned during the season in order not to pay us extra working hours for cleaning. Anyway Hours he didn’t pay for…”. Ambra received only 850 euros net plus 50 euros out of pocket for 12 hours of work a day. “At one point I couldn’t stand it and left: I was crying in the changing rooms and got sick from the unsustainable pace. At first my colleague and I pleaded to hire more staff, but the team owner threatened me to fire us. It was the government of terror. Finally we appealed to the Labor Inspectorate because all the unpaid wages “We want justice for the hours and everything we go through. You can’t make a profit off the backs of workers, you need justice. Contracts, fair wages and at that point entrepreneurs will see that there are people who want to work.”.
Union: “We need cultural change to fight structural exploitation”
“What emerges from these workers’ testimonies unfortunately reflects the harsh reality of the tourism industry in our region,” he comments. Maura Zavaglini, head of the Uil disputes office in Ravenna, whom everyone interviewed at the end of the season turns to – Inadequate payments, grueling hours and sometimes inhumane treatment are the harsh findings presented by Uil survey participants as part of the “Zero slaves on the Riviera” campaign, an initiative aimed at directly collecting the experiences of workers and highlighting a fact. Most of the time it stays in the shadows. The data collected will be formally presented at a roundtable meeting where exploitation and possible solutions to reform the system will be discussed. Instead of only addressing the superficial symptoms of the problem, the participation of both institutions and employer representatives is expected to address the problem by taking into account all its dimensions and to seek sustainable and long-term solutions. Uil supports the importance of not only intensifying audit activities but also promoting a cultural change in the sector’s entrepreneurial approach. Maximizing profits in a short period of time should not fall on the shoulders of workers. Uil hopes that a collective commitment will be made to promote a fair working environment that ensures that workers’ rights are respected and combats the “structural exploitation” that affects this sector.
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Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
