"Migrant workers exploited, abused in Italy’s prized fine wine vineyards"

…Sajo, a 36-year-old from The Gambia, used to hear it constantly while working 12-hour shifts in the vineyards, rain or shine, weekends included, for 3 euros ($3.27) to 4 euros ($4.36) an hour.

He had no contract and no legal status.

“Anduma!” his supervisors – local wine entrepreneurs and employees of wine production companies – yelled at him and at other African migrant workers as they picked grapes to produce Barolo and Barbaresco, two of Italy’s most expensive and most exported wines…

Since April, local authorities have uncovered more than 30 cases of “caporalato” in the Langhe vineyards, a form of exploitation in which migrant workers are recruited by intermediaries – often other migrants – and forced to work in inhumane conditions for Italian companies.

Union workers and activists believe this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Confagricoltura Cuneo, or the General Confederation on Italian Agriculture, estimated there are 2,500 viticulture companies that hire seasonal workers with various contracts. More than half of them are migrant workers, the group said.

Labour rights activists estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people work in the vineyards and at least two-thirds of them face the risk of exploitation…