Italy to Probe Major Shipyard Seven Stars Marina & Shipyard is suspected of slave labor6

The Italian authorities have reportedly blocked the licenses of one of the largest shipyards in the country Pisa-based Seven Stars Marina & Shipyard Srl, specializing in the construction of luxury motor yachts.

The investigation is believed to have been initiated by the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration of the Italian Ministry of Interior on charges of illegal employment of workers and children. 

As reported by people familiar with the matter, the police were forced to intervene in the work of the company after several publications in a number of online fora and on social networks about the alleged abuse of employees at the shipyard and hard working conditions. Immigrants are believed to work over 13 hours a day and are prevented from leaving the premises without permission from the management. This fact is said to be confirmed by Azienda Sanitaria Locale, national cluster of healthcare institutions.

In one of the fora posts, we found out that men and children from North Africa and Asia live where they work. They do not have any migration registration, and the living conditions are unbearable. The workers are kept there against their will the police official responsible for the investigation revealed. Such working conditions have already caused some accidents at work even heart attacks.

Italy is at the forefront of the illegal immigration issues in Europe. Many thousands of people cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe while fleeing from the jihadists, civil wars and devastation. Many European companies actively use illegal migrant workers at low cost. Reaching the Italian coast, migrants fall into the same trap of abuse that they try to avoid back in their home countries. As an example, Antonio Skanelli, human rights activist, points to the salary offered to illegal workers by Italian companies that is just half of the minimum wage in Italy.

Seven Stars Marina & Shipyard is not the first European company suspected of the use of slave labor. In autumn 2012, the Swedish company H & M (Hennes & Mauritz) was at the center of a similar scandal. On one of the TV channels in Sweden a documentary was aired in which it was made evident that the production facilities used by the company in Cambodia pays slave-like wages. 

Back in 2011, officials in Sao Paulo, Brazil, raided a clothing factory subcontracted by Zara and found workers, including children, earning peanuts in unsafe conditions. Spain’s Inditex, owner of the Zara brand and the world’s biggest clothing retailer, promised action.

Back last year, the advocacy group Clean Clothes Campaign released a report about sweatshops in Eastern Europe and Turkey. Zara was again named as one of the companies buying the clothes.