11415 Chinese immigrants to Italy build no ordinary Chinatown

Horrifying to look at the figures. Possibly, soon there will be no need to purchase textile goods in China when you can produce them almost as cheaply in Europe and without to pay for transport, etc. They are modern times slaves for the luxury industry.

It's all very sad. I rremember the market in Montecatini Terme near Prato in Tuscany a few years ago, where many of the stall holders were Chinese. I also remember going into a shop in the centre of Rome and expressed my pleasure when I saw "Made In Italy"on the labels to which the shopkeeper said the merchandise wasn't in fact.

I'm really surprised that the author didn't delve deeper when writing this article for there's been a lot of coverage in the local press about the Chinese in Prato, Pistoia too. I see it says some work 14 hours a day, many work longer hours apparently and in conditions that could only be described as "sweat shops". And there were a couple of Sundays last year when tens of thousands of Chinese workers took the streets in protest in Prato, I remember it clearly for I was at a drinks party on one particular evening and a fellow guest spoke openly of how, in her opinion, most of them should be "rounded up and shipped home". There's also been an outcry in certain sections of the press about exploited immigrant labour in this area working all hours in appalling conditions churning out items for top end designers such as Prada, Tod's, etc. With some commentators - both in Italy and outside - going so far as to call for a boycott of certain brand names (don't quote me please on the labels). Made in Italy, sure, but at what price?

For those who have watched "Gomorra" it would not be a surprise as the problem is portrayed there. But it does not happen only in Naples. It is modern day slavery with illegals working in sweatshops more than 14 hours a day, every day and sleeping in crowded conditions. It is cheaper and faster than having the item cut and sewn in China and bringing it to Italy. And no trouble with customs plus lots of other benefits. As long as there is a profit to be made, many will not hesitate and particularly at times when the fashion industry may be feeling the recession pinch. Only the Italian government properly implementing the law can do something about this.

Prato pop. ca. 300,000 has an official Chinese population of under 30,000 although the true figure is most likely higher. So the percentage of immigrant textile workers is much lower than it would have been in Bradford, Huddersfield or Leicester when there was a textile industry still around in Britain.

There is an important difference though and that is that the Chinese work only for Chinese employers not Italians wheraes Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers were brought in to work for large British enterprises, often PLCs and often working for M&S or aspiring to do so. Under the legendary chairmanship of Marcus Sieff who used to visit factories personally there were strict rules about how factories should be run. Grim places as those northern mills often were they were always in danger of having their contracts cancelled, for example, for repeatedly having dirty loos for the workers!

Because of the language barrier and much else, it is more difficult for the Italian authorities now in Prato than it was for Lord Sieff in England to police all the textile factories. Especially when so many of them are not factories but "home workers". Normally in Italy it would be the unions that would look out for the workers' interests but none of these Chinese enterprises are unionised. However, there is now a Chinaman on the board of the local Chamber of Commerce and I understand that things are slowly becoming more regularised at the larger more visible factories. Also the police, health and safety and other busy bodies have recently been raiding premises, which is presumably why Prato is now news in Chicago, Similarities can be drawn with the Bangladeshi sweat shops in Brick Lane and some hosiery manufacturers in Leicester where imposing British working regulations was always a thorny issue. But neither of those places was on anything like the scale of Prato.

It has sometimes been said of the textile factories in Biella that you could "eat your dinner off the floor" so clean and inviting are they! However Prato along with Biella is struggling against the tide of imports that came in from China with the new ITO rules at the beginning of this century. Plato (as it is now known by the Florentines) has been a world leader in textile manufacture since even before the times of Francesco Di Marco Datini and has survived many a downturn by always being fleet of foot and perhaps this Chinese invasion is the just the latest chapter in that story.

[quote=sdoj;108332]Bangladeshi sweat shops in Brick Lane and some hosiery manufacturers in Leicester where imposing British working regulations was always a thorny issue. But neither of those places was on anything like the scale of Prato.
.[/quote]

Maybe TNS is more on the scale of Prato operations?

This is a UK textiles manufacturer that supplies Primark, and employs people for 12 hour shifts seven days a week for half the minimum wage, paid under the table.

Allegedly.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7824291.stm]BBC NEWS | UK | Primark linked to UK sweatshops[/url]

Good to see you back Stodge. :yes:

The scale I was referring to was in terms of number of factories and number of workers not the scale of the infringements of UK/Italian employment laws.

I don't know much about TNS Knitwear except that they are suppliers to some of Britain's most well known brands and that it is run by Pakistan-born Zahid Sarwar.

It is quite likely though that they are the type of Leicester company to which I was referring: Similar to the Prato/Chinese enterprises in as much as all or most of the workers are immigrants who don't speak the local language very well and certainly don't know how to enforce their employment rights.

This immigration into Prato started in the 1980's and apart from the obviously wealthy gang masters you can already see quite a number of prosperous youngsters who have clearly btroken free of their shackles and started up on their own.

Andrew Carnegie the great industrialist and philanthropist's most famous quote was "the man who dies wealthy dies disgraced" but earlier on in his life he publicly complained that the problem with the best of cheap immigrant labour was that they all too quickly acquired other talents and moved on: “You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.”

The long standing textile industry in and around northern Lombardy has now all but disappeared due first to cheap Chinese imports and now to Chinese setting up their own firms that are run by their own (cheap) labour force.

I know of several (local) Italian families who have worked in the industry for several generations, often for the same family run business. These firms are no longer able to compete and first had to put their workers into Cassa Integrazione, but have now been forced into total closure. The industry is now all but dead.

The weekly markets up here are gradually being taken over by Chinese who now run most of the clothing stalls...

[quote=Carole B;108420]The long standing textile industry in and around northern Lombardy has now all but disappeared due first to cheap Chinese imports and now to Chinese setting up their own firms that are run by their own (cheap) labour force.

I know of several (local) Italian families who have worked in the industry for several generations, often for the same family run business. These firms are no longer able to compete and first had to put their workers into Cassa Integrazione, but have now been forced into total closure. The industry is now all but dead.

The weekly markets up here are gradually being taken over by Chinese who now run most of the clothing stalls...[/quote]

One wonders how these companies have been allowed to get so big running so many illegal immigrants. Oh well I suppose the Guardia di Finanza is so busy raiding bed and breakfast businesses that they don't have the time to look at anything in this vein.

Many years ago there was a thriving silk manufacturing industry in Italy. Looking for exact data about it, I found this most interesting article:

[url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E1D9153CF933A25757C0A961958260]Italian Silk Industry Upset By a New U.S. Trade Law - New York Times[/url]

I have always been interested in textiles and next to our mill at Bagni there used to be a silk mill which closed down many years ago. Apparently they were very busy and they exported their fabrics...
Obviously, competition has killed an important industry that operated for centuries....

England and Scotland had a very large cloth industry at one time and we used to sell all around the world. Italy always had had a traditional industry too but it was not until after the war and the "Italian Miracle" that Italy overtook UK production and then came Japan and Korea too. Now it is the turn of China and India to knock Italy off its perch. The interesting thing about Prato is that these "illegal" factories started by the Chinese might just mean that Italy remains the home of "Pronto Moda".

The Chinese who are manufacturing and selling in the markets is just the first stage their longer term aim must be to sell to the branded names and chain retailers.

Aveva ragione il Gattopardo “tutto deve cambiare perché tutto resti uguale”

"Sono d'accordissimo!"