Sikh Migrant Labor Loses Life in Italy, Sparks Outrage

On 17 Jun, Satnam Singh, a 31-year-old farm worker, was left on the street after losing his right arm while working at a farm near Latina, southeast of Rome. Singh was hooked by the plastic wrapping machine, towed by a tractor, which severed his right arm and crushed his lower limbs. Singh was then loaded into a van and abandoned near his home, while his severed arm was left in a vegetable collection box. He died 19 Jun at the San Camillo hospital in Rome. An investigation into farm owner Antonello Lovato – who allegedly left the injured Singh outside his home after the incident – has now been opened over potential charges of manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger, said lead prosecutor Giuseppe De Falco. Singh did not have a regular contract or residence permit and had been working at the same company for two years. On 21 Jun, Trade unions met with the Italian Labor Minister Marina Elvira Calderone and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida to discuss changes needed to prevent such events from happening again. What happened to Singh is ‘much more than an injury: it is an inhuman act of barbarism in which those who abandoned him demonstrated that they had no regard for the value of human life,’ Calderone said in an interview, calling for exemplary punishments against exploitation at work. Trade unions have organized a fundraiser to raise funds for Singh’s family, with some condemning Italy’s gang mastering system, which involves the illegal recruitment and exploitation of agricultural workers (SDW Vol 2 Issue 25, Story 4).