Italy to recruit 40,000 foreign workers
Reza Mahmud :
The government of Italy has permitted employers to recruit 40,000 non-EU seasonal workers which bring opportunities to Bangladeshi workers keen to go the European country.
Stakeholders in manpower export sector expressed hope that Bangladeshi workers can get the opportunity as there are many experienced and educated youths are keen to go Europe.
Sources said, Italy has passed the legislation to grant permits to recruit those seasonal workers for its agricultural and tourism sectors as the sectors has suffered enough from scarcity of workers.
The move was applauded by Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti because they were waiting for long for easing recruitment of foreign workers from non-European countries.
The permission made just days before the starting of apple and grape harvest seasons, said Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti recently.
“The government has approved the employment of an extra 40,000 non-EU seasonal workers in the country’s agricultural and tourism sectors,” Coldiretti said.
In order to accelerate hiring procedures, the decree reserves 15,000 of the 40,000 workers to employers’ associations, starting with applications already submitted when the decree was published.
The seasonal workers will be employed based on applications filed at local immigration offices.
“One out of four agricultural products is harvested by foreign hands,” said Coldiretti.
Foreign workers employed in agriculture mostly hail from Albania, Morocco, Romania and several Asian countries like India and Pakistan. Although almost all nationalities are represented in this sector, the farmers’ association said.
“In Italy one agricultural product in four is harvested by foreign hands with 3,58,000 regular workers coming from 164 different countries who are employed in fields and barns, providing more than 30 percent of the total workdays necessary for the sector,” sources from Italy said.
Sources from Italy said that most farm workers are employed with short-term contracts.
Most of the seasonal foreign workers are work in areas of the countries like Verona, Friuli, Trentino, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Lombardy helping to harvest and produce strawberries, vine shoots, apples, grapes and milk, respectively.
In these circumstances, Bangladeshi migrant oriented workers also have vast opportunities to get this seasonal job in Italy.
When contacted, Mohammad Abul Bashar, President of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) told The New Nation on Thursday, “We have numbers of educated youths skilled in agriculture sector for sending abroad like Italy.”
He said a little number of recruiting agencies are working in European countries as it is not our traditional market.
“But if our embassy take strong steps we can cope the opportunity as we have enough manpower ready to send for working agriculture sector in European countries like Italy,” BAIRA President said.
Meanwhile, Italy has shown interest to employ more Bangladeshi manpower particularly in its agriculture and hospitality sectors as three Italian ministers called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the UN Food Systems Summit recently.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the European country to participate the UN Food Systems Summit held 24-26 July in Rome.
“Italy wants to hire more workers from Bangladesh for its agriculture and hospitality sectors,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen quoted the Italian ministers as telling the premier at their meetings at Rome.
Momen briefed the reporters after Italy’s Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Justice Minister Carlo Nordio have meetings with the Bangladesh prime minister during the visit.
