On 19 December 2024, our monthly Journal Club discussed two documents dealing with migration policies and the exploitation of migrant workers in agriculture: a journal article entitled ‘The agrifood-migration nexus: migration regimes and the politics of labour shortages in Italy and Sweden’ by Alessandra Corrado, Lucio Pisacane & Cristián Alarcón Ferrari (2024) and a report by Amnesty International (2012) entitled ‘Exploited labour Migrant workers In Italy’s agricultural sector’.
The journal article highlighted the importance of analysing migration policies in a holistic way, linking migration to other systems. Notably, it analysed how migration/labour mobility policies are shaped by the political dynamics surrounding the Italian and Swedish agri-food systems. In its turn, the report presented the investigation into the exploitation of migrant workers in the agricultural sector in Italy. It documented widespread and extreme labour exploitation of migrants, including wages below the agreed minimum wage, arbitrary wage setting, late or non-payment of wages, and long working hours. Similarly to the first article, the report links Italian migration policies to these abuses.
Our discussion focused on the blurring boundaries between the position of intra-EU migrants and those coming from third countries. We reflected on the paradox of the sometimes worse position of the former category. Further, we considered the fundamental role of intermediaries and, from the perspective of E-BoP, on their role of shaping (and sometimes just “being”) the labour market for temporary labour migrants.