The management of Covid19 pandemic and its impact on migrant farmworkers in Italy: anthropological insights

Abstract

PurposeTwo important measures concerning the management of the workforce were introduced in Italy during the COVID-19–related health emergency: the regularization of irregular migrants working in the domestic and agro-industrial sector, and the introduction of the health-pass requirement to access all workplaces. This article analyses the impacts of such measures on a specific category of workers: migrant farmworkers, notably racially subaltern, marginalized and exploited. Implicit ideological and normative assumptions underlying Italian policies to address the health emergency and related labor shortages raise important questions about the meaning of “life” and whose lives matter in emergency contexts, which this article aims to address.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on the case study of the informal settlements for seasonal migrant workers in the agro-industrial district of Capitanata (Apulia).FindingsBased on the aforementioned case study, this article shows that Italian measurs concerning the management of the workforce during the COVID-19–related health emergency resulted in various forms of blackmail to which migrant farmworkers were especially subjected, and increased their exploitability and “expulsability” from the labor market. In particular, it argues that the aforementioned measures resulted in significant shifts in the relationship between migrant farmworkers and the state, on the one hand, and between migrant farmworkers and employers, on the other.Originality/valueRather than promoting migrant farmworkers' social, economic and health rights, this double shift turned into increased oppression, exploitability and dependency on the employer.