The terms used by the Milan public prosecutor’s office are harsh and demonstrate the seriousness of a matter which could have serious consequences. “A situation of quasi-slavery†, constituting the crimes of “illicit lending of labor and exploitation of workersâ€. These are the accusations made by Italian justice against the transalpine subsidiary of Caddell Construction, an American company which is building the future United States consulate in Milan. A pharaonic project worth 200 million dollars (around 170 million euros), launched in 2022 and which should be completed in 2028, over which the shadow of serious irregularities now hangs, says the Corriere della Sera.
The site employs 300 to 400 Indian workers, and some of them “reported having paid between 5,000 and 6,000 euros to an intermediary agency in order to obtain the necessary visa for this work†. Once they arrived in Italy, they were faced with an unpleasant surprise: “While the official contract provided for 1,400 to 1,500 euros of salary, in reality, 500 euros were ‘retained’ to finance accommodation and 350 euros for food. This while contractually, accommodation and food were to be free for workers and the responsibility of the employer.â€
Caddell subsidiary under judicial control
According to calculations carried out by the Milanese public prosecutor’s office, “the actual hours worked per month would be 245 instead of the 158 planned, and, after salary deductions, the actual payment would be 2.17 euros per hour, or 51% below the poverty threshold established by the Italian Statistical Institute†, reports the centrist media.
The affair created a wave of indignation in the press in the country, where the exploitation of foreign workers in the construction sector is widespread. The fact that a foreign company, and moreover an American one, is indirectly involved seems surprising, and the investigation seems to be based on very concrete elements. Proof of this is that the Italian subsidiary of Caddell Construction has been placed under judicial control. Worse, one of the leaders of the latter, a Turk named Ulas Demir, was arrested on Sunday May 31 at Bergamo airport, in the north of Italy.
According to the Milan public prosecutor’s office, note He Post, â€oeil had bought a plane ticket to Istanbul on May 30, the day following the placement under judicial control of the Caddell subsidiary†. An apparent escape attempt which, according to investigators, “would have been advised to Demir by a superior within Caddell, as revealed by an intercepted telephone conversation†, concludes the transalpine information site.
