Over 1,160 applications for employment regularization have been submitted by immigrant workers in the province of Ferrara, of which the majority, 982, concern domestic and care work and the remaining 180 relate to subordinate work in the agricultural sector. In Emilia Romagna, 18,107 applications were submitted relating to the domestic sector and 2,101 applications relating to the agricultural sector, for a total of 20,208.
After a rather hectic initial phase, due primarily to the lack of procedural provisions, lasting from June 1st to August 15th, during which it was not without considerable difficulty to submit regularization applications, the so-called 'phase two' began in mid-August, with the processing of applications and the actual regularization of the employment relationship.
The goal of regularizing and disclosing employment relationships is certainly a step in the right direction, but in practice it has only yielded a partial response, as demonstrated by the extension of the deadline for submitting regularization applications from July 15th to August 15th, yet the estimated number of applications has not been met.
Considering that, in addition to domestic workers, caregivers, and agricultural workers, the process could and should have included other sectors such as construction, logistics, tourism, and so on, it would have become an opportunity to quantify and bring these workers out of invisibility, thus offering them solutions in terms of employment, healthcare, and social protections. Not to mention that regularization would have been a natural deterrent to their illegal recruitment, a practice unfortunately also widely used in our province.
Now, given the current state of affairs, we're at a stage where an employer applying to hire a migrant has two options: wait for the Prefecture's call or, in the meantime, if they intend to begin the employment relationship immediately, draft a formal contract. Regardless of which path is chosen, our appeal is that to avoid confusion and complications, the employer always relies on professional, serious and qualified operators.For these very reasons, the CAF CISL offers its 'Housekeepers and Caregivers' service.
And this for two reasons: On the one hand, the employer is protected, given that this second phase, based on the indications of circular no. 2399 of 24 July 2020, drafted jointly by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, places a series of obligations and duties on the employer; on the other, the work of the immigrant worker himself is protected..
