"I hurt my whole body": the Italian tobacco industry stained | Global development

Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, three of the largest tobacco companies in the world, buy leaves that could have been picked by exploited African migrants working in the multi-million-euro Italian industry.

Workers, including children, reported being forced to work up to 12 hours a day without a contract and adequate health and safety equipment in Campania, which produces more than a third of Italy's tobacco production. Some workers reported being paid about three euros at the hour.

The Guardian's three-year investigation of the Italian tobacco industry would be the first in Europe to examine the supply chain.

The Italian tobacco market is dominated by the three multinational manufacturers, all of whom buy from local producers. According to an internal report from the ONT Italia farmers' organization, consulted by the Guardian and confirmed by a document from the European Leaf Tobacco Interbranch, the companies bought three-fifths of Italian tobacco in 2017. Philip Morris alone has purchased 21,000 tonnes of the 50,000 tonnes harvested this year.

Multinationals have all reported buying from suppliers who have a strict code of conduct to ensure fair treatment of workers. Philip Morris said he was not abused. Imperial and British American have stated that they will investigate any complaints brought to their attention.

Italy is the largest tobacco producer in the EU. In 2017, the sector was worth € 149m (£ 131m).

Despite the existence of a complex system of guarantees for tobacco workers, more than 20 asylum seekers who spoke at the Guardian, including 10 who had worked in tobacco fields during the 2018 season , reported rights violations and lack of safety equipment. .

Interviewees stated that they did not have a work contract, were paid below legal standards and had to work up to 12 hours a day. They also stated that they did not have access to safe drinking water and that they were victims of verbal abuse and racial discrimination on the part of their leaders. Two interviewees were minors and employed in hazardous work.

Didier, born and raised in Cote d'Ivoire, arrived in Italy via Libya. He was just 18 years old, but at the age of 17, when last spring, a tobacco farmer from Capua Vetere, near the town of Caserta, offered to work in his fields. "I woke up at 4am. We started at 6 in the morning, "he said. "The work was exhausting. It was very hot in the greenhouse and we had no contract. "

Alex, from Ghana, another miner working in the same area, said he was forced to work 10 to 12 hours a day. "If you are tired or not, you are supposed to work," otherwise "you lose your job".

Workers complained of having to work without a break until lunch time.

Alex said that he had not been given gloves or work clothes to protect him from the nicotine contained in the leaves or pesticides. He also stated that when he was working without gloves, he felt "a disease such as fever, malaria or headaches".

A study found that the humidity of dew or rain on a tobacco leaf can hold as much nicotine as the contents of six cigarettes. Direct contact may result in nicotine poisoning.

Most of the migrants reported working without gloves. Low wages prevented them from buying theirs.

Sekou, 27, a native of Guinea and working in the tobacco fields since 2016, said at the end of his work day: "I could not put my hands in the water to take a shower because my hands had been cut.

Olivier added: "I had pain everywhere, especially on the hands. I had to take painkillers every day.

The migrants stated that they were generally hired in roundabouts along the main roads through the province of Caserta.

The workers who spoke to the Guardian said they did not have a contract and received half the minimum wage. Most earn between 20 and 30 € per day, instead of the minimum of 42 €.

Thomas, from Ghana, said: "I worked last year in the tobacco fields near Cancello, a village located near Caserta. They paid me € 3 per hour. The work was terrible and we had no contract ".

The Guardian found paid African workers at 3 euros by the hour, while Albanians, Romanians and Italians were almost paid double.

"I worked with Albanians. They paid Albanians € 50 per day "(€ 5 per hour), explains Didier. "They paid me € 3 per hour. That's why I asked them for an increase. But when I did, they never called back.

Tammaro Della Corte, union leader of the General Confederation of Italian Workers in Caserta, said: "Unfortunately, the reality of working conditions in the agricultural sector of the province of Caserta, including the tobacco industry, is marked by deep exploitation by work, low wages, illegal contracts and an impressive presence of caporalato [illegal hiring], including extortion and blackmail workers.

"We are talking to thousands of workers who work in extreme conditions, mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the supply chain in the tobacco sector is characterized by extreme and alarming working conditions. "

Between 405,000 and 500,000 migrants work in the Italian agricultural sector, about half of the total workforce. According to the Placido Rizzotto Observatory, which studies the situation of workers in the agricultural sector, 80% of people working without a contract are migrants.

The tobacco multinationals have invested billions of euros in the industry in Italy. Philip Morris alone has invested 1 billion euros over the past five years and has investment plans of the same magnitude for the next two years. In 2016, the company invested 500 million euros to open a factory near Bologna to manufacture smokeless cigarettes. A year later, another investment of 500 million euros had been announced to increase the production capacity of the factory.

British American Tobacco said investments in Italy amounted to 1 billion euros between 2015 and 2019.

The companies have signed agreements with the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers' badociations.

Since 2011, Philip Morris, who buys the majority of tobacco in Campania, has signed agreements for the purchase of tobacco directly at ONT Italia.

Philip Morris buys about 70% of the Burley tobacco variety produced in Campania. About 900 farmers work for companies that supply Philip Morris.

In 2018, Burley and Virginia Bright varieties accounted for 90% of Italy's tobacco production. About 15,000 tons of the 16,000 tons of Italian Burley are harvested in Campania.

In 2015, Philip Morris signed an agreement with Coldiretti, the main badociation of entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector, to buy 21,000 tons of tobacco a year from Italian farmers, investing 500 million euros, until 2020.

Gennarino Masiello, president of Coldiretti Campania and national vice president, said that the agreement included a "strong commitment to respect the rights of employees, banning phenomena such as caporalato and child labor ".

Steps have been taken to improve the working conditions of tobacco workers.

An agreement reached last year between the Interprofessionale Tabacco Italia Organizazione (OITI), a farmers' organization, and the Ministry of Agriculture culminated in the introduction of the a code of practice in the tobacco industry, including the protection of workers' health, and a national strategy to reduce the impact on the environment.

But last year, the OITI was forced to recognize that "workplace abuse often has systemic causes" and that "long-term solutions to these problems require the serious and lasting commitment of all actors in the logistics chain, as well as in the company. Government and other parties involved ".

Despite the code, the migrants interviewed did not report any changes in their working conditions.

In 2017, Philip Morris signed an agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of the UN to hire 20 migrants as trainees in the tobacco companies of Campania, to "help them out of serious exploitation situations ". Migrants benefiting from the six-month internship program receive a monthly salary of € 600 from Philip Morris.

But the scheme seems to have little impact.

Kofi, Sekou and Hbadan were among the 20 migrants hired under the agreement. Two of them stated that their tasks and their treatment were not different from other workers. At the end of the six months, Sekou said that he had not been hired regularly, but that he continued to work without a contract and with low wages, in the same company that had signed the Agreement with Philip Morris.

"If I did not work, they would not pay me. I was sick, they would not pay me, "he said.

Huub Savelkouls, director in charge of sustainable development at Philip Morris International, said in a statement that the company was committed to ensuring security and fair conditions in its supply chain and that it had not yet solved the issues raised.

"In collaboration with Verité, an independent, non-profit organization, we have developed PMI's Code of Agricultural Practices (ALP), which currently covers more than 350,000 farms around the world. Farmers supplying PMI in Italy are contractually bound to comply with the standards of the ALP Code. They receive training and the field teams make farm visits twice a month to monitor compliance with the ALP Code, "he said.

"Recognizing the complex situation of migrant workers in Italian agriculture, the PMI has taken additional steps to increase its visibility and prevent potential problems through a mechanism providing employees with direct channels to express their views. their concerns, notably by funding an independent telephone support service and a program of direct participation with agricultural workers. . "

On the IOM program, he said: "This work has been recognized by stakeholders and elements are being considered for further action".

Simon Cleverly, Group Affairs Manager at British American Tobacco, said, "We recognize that agricultural supply chains and global business operations, by their nature, can pose significant risks to rights and that we have robust policies and processes minimized. Our Supplier Code of Conduct sets out the minimum contractual standards we expect from all of our suppliers around the world and specifically requires them to ensure that their activities are free of illegal migrant labor. The Code also obliges suppliers to provide all workers, including legally migrant workers, with fair wages and benefits in accordance with the applicable minimum wage legislation. To ensure compliance, we have put in place a due diligence process for all of our third-party vendors, including the industry-wide, sustainable tobacco control program. "

He added: "When we are informed of alleged violations of human rights, via STP, our whistleblowing procedure or any other means, we investigate and, if necessary, take corrective action."

Simon Evans, Group Media Relations Manager at Imperial Tobacco, said, "As part of the industry-wide sustainable tobacco control program, we are working with all of our suppliers to tobacco to improve good farming practices, improve work practices and protect the environment. We buy a very small amount of tobacco from the Campania region through a local third-party supplier, with whom we work to understand and solve any problems. "

The ONT stated that technicians visited tobacco producers at least once a month to verify compliance with the contracts and the regulation of production. He stated that he would not tolerate any form of exploitation through work and would follow up on the Guardian's investigation.

"If they [the abuses] As a result of operations badociated with the ONT, we will take the necessary steps, not only to break the law, but above all to protect all of our members who operate in an honest and transparent manner. "

The names of migrant workers have been changed to protect identities