"Behind the sweetness of Italy's kiwi fruit lie the trafficking and exploitation of Indian workers,"

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Kamaljit and Joginder are just two of the thousands of Punjabi workers who move to Italy illegally... They know what exploitation is because they have suffered it from the moment they decided to work abroad… Because they are willing to bring down their employers’ overheads by accepting lower wages and a less safe work environment than the local labour force, they are in demand...

Over the more than 50 interviews The Wire and its partners in this investigation conducted in Italy and India between May and December 2022 with labourers, trade unionists, researchers, Indian families, Punjab travel agents and middlemen, it was learned that wages earned by illegal Indian migrants in Italy do not exceed seven euros per hour.

In fact, they tend to average out at between five and six euros an hour – much below the nine euros an hour that is the basic wage of an agricultural worker in Italy.

The payments are also made illegally. Part of it comes from the official payroll, while the rest is handed over in cash…

… There are unjustified layoffs, lack of proper sanitation, too short breaks, and lack of mandatory protective equipment...

Asked about the irregularities found in the companies licensed to produce its kiwi fruit, Zespri replied: “While the vast majority of employers in the kiwi fruit industry take care of their employees, a small minority may not. Any exploitation of workers is unacceptable and we are committed to holding those involved to account and continuing to improve our compliance systems to help us do so. We take the allegations extremely seriously and have launched an investigation into the matter, also to understand how best to support the workers involved.”...

Though Gik was contacted to discuss the statements of its workers, it did not respond.