Aboubakar Soumahoro, an Italian-Ivorian trade unionist of the USB Agricultural Workers Coordination has threatened a general strike of migrant farm labourers if the Italian government does not grant amnesty to all illegals.
A spokesman for illegal migrants in Italy, Mr Soumehoro clashed with populist Senator Matteo Salvini on television programme In Mezz’ora in Piu over the issue saying, “The government should regularise, otherwise it is a strike!”
League leader and former Italian interior minister Salvini rejected the call to strike saying, “are the illegal immigrants going on strike now? Sorry, what country do we live in?”
“We are also striking for you as a consumer because the food you consume is the result of exploitation, we are striking for 60 million Italians. It is a strike by foreign workers who also fight for Italian labourers,” Soumehoro said in reply.
“The problem is that if we continue to regularize irregular immigrants we have slaves, I don’t want people to go to work in the fields for three euros an hour and the mass amnesty brings more exploitation,” Salvini said.
The League leader has previously compared mass illegal migration to slavery in 2018 when he slammed Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros saying the left-wing figure, “would like Italy [to become] a giant refugee camp because he likes slaves.”
“The only thing I don’t share with you is mass amnesty, otherwise I agree,” Salvini told Soumehoro and added, “They accuse me of going to too many farms and not being in the office, I know many farmers. The problem is that if you do not cut taxes and bureaucracy for agricultural entrepreneurs, then they will never start up again.”
Migrant amnesty has been on the radar of many European countries over the course of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, with many arguing that residence permits will allow migrants easier access to healthcare and other government services that could aid in stopping the spread of the disease.
Portugal took such measures in March and over 100 French MPs demanded such measures be undertaken in France to grant amnesty to an estimated hundreds of thousands of illegals last month.
Even prior to the coronavirus pandemic the leftist Italian coalition government had considered granting amnesty to an estimated 700,000 illegal immigrants believed to be residing in the country.