Why are labour rights violations occurring?

One of the underlying factors behind these violations and poor working conditions is the undervaluing of care work in Italian society. To understand why care work is undervalued, we need to take an intersectional approach to analysing care work. Intersectionality is the recognition that people face multiple and intersecting forms of structural discrimination. This can include, but is not limited to their gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, class, and age. These factors do not exist independent of each other, but instead each factor informs the other.

In the case of Italy, people often view women as “natural carers” and see care work as “women’s work”. Consequently, from a societal point of view, care work is often not considered work or is viewed as unskilled or low skilled work. There is therefore a lack of recognition of the complex skills required to be a care worker and because of this, some employers do not feel that they have to offer working conditions in line with what would be offered to workers in other sectors.

The home care market in Italy is also built on hierarchies on the basis of social class, gender, ethnicity and nationality. Care work within the home is for the most part outsourced to women from low income countries or countries with lower average incomes than Italy. Many of these workers come from Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Albania, Ecuador, Morocco, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. Some employers justify the low wages they provide on the basis that these wages are still higher than what would be earned in the worker’s home country.

Migrant care workers also sometimes experience discrimination based on their ethnicity and/or nationality. Previous research has shown that some employers refuse to hire or show hostility towards black care workers. While a common stereotype that Polish and Ukrainian care workers have to deal with is the belief that they only come to Italy to marry Italian men. This can lead to discrimination by employers and attempts to control their body or clothing, including by making them wear a uniform in order to downplay their femininity.

The poor working conditions of migrant care workers are also the result of the actions or lack thereof of the Italian government.

The fact that the government has ratified ILO C189 and has introduced a collective bargaining agreement for care workers is a step in the right direction. However, at present, there has been a lack of political will to enforce the rights that these workers are entitled to and migrant workers often do not have any channel to report violations when they take place.

Low levels of funding for care services also causes issues for workers. At the national level, the government provides a cash allowance which can be used to hire migrant care workers. However, this amount does not cover the full salary of the worker and some employers choose to hire workers without formal contracts in order to not pay social security contributions and therefore cut costs.

While migrant workers that hold a nationality from an EU country are able to move to Italy relatively easy due to freedom of movement laws within the EU, the same cannot be said for workers from outside the EU. Italy uses a quota-system for non-EU citizens, which details the maximum number of people who can enter Italy for employment purposes each year. However, the demand for care workers often exceeds the number of granted visas and work permits for care workers. Consequently, many care workers are forced to migrate through irregular migration channels (for example entering on a tourist visa or visa exemption). This leaves workers with even fewer options to report labour rights violations, while also leaving them at risk of deportation. The government occasionally runs programmes to provide documentation for those who entered through irregular channels. However, there is still the need to develop a sustainable migration channel for migrant care workers from countries outside the EU.