A Lombardy-based fruit and vegetable giant, Spreafico Francesco e F.ll S.p.A., gets in trouble for caporalato and tax fraud. The Guardia di Finanza of Lecco carries out inspections and seizures under the authority of the Court of Milan, which in the meantime appoints a judicial administrator.
The presumption of innocence applies until the conviction becomes final, by constitutional dictate (Article 27). However, the question remains as to how it is possible that the large-scale retailer has ignored repeated complaints of worker abuse at one of its large suppliers.
Spreafico SpA, half a century of glory and public funding
Spreafico SpA has been producing, importing and marketing fruit and vegetables since 1955. Production takes place in Italy, on nearly 500 hectares cultivated by 8 farms, and in Chile on 180 hectares managed by 2 of its fazendas. Made-in-Italy crops–based on kiwifruit, pears, apples, plums nuts–have recently expanded to include high value-added products. Small fruits (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and currant) and pomegranate.
Steady growth to 356 million euros in sales has made Spreafico SpA a ‘model of excellence’. To the point of receiving public funding from ISA SpA, the Agribusiness Development Institute of MiPAAF, between 2004 and 2015. And receive the ‘Italy award,’ from UniCredit, in 2018.
GRASP!
Raffaele Spreafico, CEO of the family company, was extolling the group’s ethical commitment a few months ago to building local and imported ‘supply chain projects‘. Emphasizing the importance of ‘adherence to quality and standards,’ including voluntary ones, ‘inorder to establish lasting and successful collaborations.’ (1)
The GRASP(Global G.A.P Risk Assessment on Social Practices) certification to which Spreafico referred pertains, literally, to ‘Risk Control in Social Practices.’ An ad hoc certification that should attest to strict compliance with workers’ rights in agriculture. Something, however, does not add up.
Corporalism and fraud, the investigation
Investigators of the GdF Provincial Command of Lecco, following demonstrations and strikes by workers at the Dolzago headquarters, began to shed light on the ‘internal supply chain’ of Spreafico Francesco and F.ll S.p.A. The investigation — which continued under the coordination of the deputy prosecutor at the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office, Paolo Storari — culminated in the search of the homes of Raffaele Spreafico and the managers of the cooperatives where the dirty work transited.
The acts recalled by the local news report on ‘disproportionate wages in relation to the quantity and quality of work performed‘ with a ‘repeated violation of regulations on working hours, rest periods, weekly rest, mandatory leave, and vacations.’ In a system ‘characterized by constant threats of dismissal‘ to those who dare to demand contract compliance. Aut-Aut.
Slavery in subcontracting
‘It happened that I worked as many as 260 hours a month, but I was getting 1,300 euros a month. (…) Rest time was not paid, vacation time from 2007 to 2017 was never paid to me. (…) They treat us like animals because they take advantage of us foreigners who need to work and do not understand Italian well‘ (a worker at the Spreafico SpA office in Dolzago).
‘Excruciating shifts,’ up to 13 hours a day for a pay of 6 euros an hour through multi-service contract for cleaners, malpractice that has already been written about. (4) Slavery was practiced through subcontracting labor to a series of cooperatives that alternated over time and were then put into liquidation. Cheap labor, unfair competition, tax evasion and/or fraud. But also illicit labor brokering, i.e., caporalato.
Coordination
The principal Spreafico, according to the prosecution, was ‘fully aware of the exploitative situation of the personal conditions of the workers, formally employed through the contract system of labor contracting with cooperative companies.’
Workers were therefore ‘de facto directly coordinated in the Dolzago operating company headquarters also by employees [of Spreafico SpA, ed.], thus capitalizing on the gain of below-threshold labor intervention within the market and thus lower cost bearing‘.
Seizure and judicial administration
The Criminal Court of Milan – Autonomous Section of Prevention Measures, presided over by Dr. Fabio Roia – ordered the preventive seizure of several million euros (6 according to some sources, 3.5 in Spreafico’s reply to the press) from the company’s accounts, facing allegations of tax evasion in the three-year period 2018/20.
A judicial administrator has also been appointed, to restore law and order to the management of the workers, for the next 12 months. Investigations are also continuing with a view to establishing the administrative liability of Spreafico Francesco and F.ll S.p.A., pursuant to Leg. 231/01, in relation to crimes that may turn out to have been committed in its interest.
Due diligence, who has seen it?
The European Parliament voted by a large majority on 10.3.21 for a draft EU directive to affirm the duty of accountability(corporate accountability) anddue diligence (due diligence) of economic operators. In relation to the protection of basic human rights – of workers and communities – as well as the environment, throughout the entire course of supply chains wherever based, of its own organizations and anyone working in them. (5)
In Dolzago (LC), at the headquarters of Spreafico SpA, strikes organized by Si Cobas and CGIL have been going on since July 2020. The women workers, in the front line, also risked a very serious accident due to the driver of a TIR who tried to force the garrisons by speeding up instead of stopping in the middle of the protesters on 4.3.21. (6) Is it possible that such news has escaped the notice of those who certify GRASP, and especially the large-scale retail chains that profess to ensure the ethical sustainability of their suppliers?
Interim conclusions, UN report
There is no shortage of precedents. Suffice it to recall, in the past year, the scandals for caporalism that have emerged at famous GDO suppliers such as StraBerry-in the Milan area, in August 2020-and of the group headed by Settimio Passalaqua, one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the Foggia area, in July 2020 (7.8).
The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, as a result of the mission concluded on 6.10.21, also noted in Northern Italy ‘numerous ways in which workers, particularly migrant workers, are exploited and underpaid for long hours of work. (…) it is a common practice for them to be recruited through agencies or cooperatives that employ illegal or unethical recruitment practices.
They are often hired on temporary contracts and may be required to work many more hours than their paychecks state. The precarious situation of many of these workers means that they have little choice but to accept exploitative working conditions.’ (9)
Until when?
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Daniele Colombo. Spreafico, forward with controlled supply chains made in Italy #vocidellortofrutta. FreshPointMagazine. 2.11.20, https://www.freshpointmagazine.it/featured/spreafico-avanti-con-le-filiere-controllate-made-in-italy-vocidellortofrutta/
(2) Andrea Morleo. Corporalism and worker exploitation, Spreafico spa in receivership. The Day. 8.10.21, https://www.ilgiorno.it/lecco/cronaca/caporalato-sfruttamento-lavoratori-spreafico-spa-amministrazione-giudiziaria-1.6894628
(3) Luigi Ferrarella. Lecco, “commissioned” fruit and vegetable giant Spreafico. Foreign workers: ‘Treated like animals’. Evening Courier. 8.10.21, https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/21_ottobre_08/lecco-lavoratori-stranieri-sfruttati-commissariato-colosso-dell-ortofrutta-spreafico-7d709570-2864-11ec-8a6d-f17b9efd9487.shtml
(4) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Food or multiservice CCNL. Italpizza’s reply and brief notes of law. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.9.19, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/ccnl-alimentare-o-multiservizi-la-replica-di-italpizza-e-brevi-note-di-diritto
(5) Dario Dongo. Due diligence, the EU draft directive on socio-environmental responsibilities in the value chain. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 7/27/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/due-diligence-il-progetto-di-direttiva-ue-sulle-responsabilità-socio-ambientali-nella-catena-del-valore
(6) Lecco. Strike and tension at Spreafico fruit. The Province of Lecco. 5.3.21, https://www.laprovinciadilecco.it/stories/lecco-citta/lecco-sciopero-e-tensione-alla-spreafico-frutta_1388528_11/
(7) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Agriculture. Milanese-style corporatism, virtuous networks, unresolved issues. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 8/24/20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/agricoltura-caporalato-alla-milanese-reti-virtuose-questioni-irrisolte
(8) See note 7 to previous article https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/acqua-e-igiene-governi-e-caporali
(9) OHCHR, ONU. Statement at the end of visit to Italy by the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights. 6.10.21, https://www.ohchr.org/FR/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=27607&LangID=F
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
