ITALY: Migrant farmers strike after 16 road deaths

African migrant labourers have gone on strike in Italy in protest at their poor working conditions, after 16 workers died in road crashes. Shouting “we are not slaves”, farm workers downed tools and marched on the city of Foggia in southern Italy. The strike comes after 16 migrants died in two separate accidents in 48 […]

African migrant labourers have gone on strike in Italy in protest at their poor working conditions, after 16 workers died in road crashes.

Shouting “we are not slaves”, farm workers downed tools and marched on the city of Foggia in southern Italy.

The strike comes after 16 migrants died in two separate accidents in 48 hours.

In both cases, lorries carrying tomatoes collided with vans carrying the labourers home after their day’s work.

Four workers died in a crash in the Puglia region on Saturday, and 12 more perished in a head-on collision near Lesina north of Foggia two days later.

The labourers say recruiters who may be linked to organised crime drive them from farm to farm in overcrowded vans, and fail to give them work contracts.