How migrant workers suffered to craft the 'Made in Italy' luxury label (www.reuters.com)
from girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to world@lemmy.world on 18 Sep 2024 19:03
https://lemmy.ca/post/29245454

“Made in Italy: shame in Italy,” a handful of migrant labourers who had travelled from Italy’s famed leatherware region Tuscany chanted last week in Geneva outside the flagship store of luxury accessory maker Montblanc, holding placards with the slogan.

Standing about three kilometers from where Montblanc’s $76 billion parent Richemont was meeting shareholders, the workers - flanked by more than a dozen Italian and Swiss union officials - accused the pen and watches maker of dropping its supplier Z Production last year because of rising costs.

The Chinese-owned contractor, based in Tuscany, had improved its working conditions in October 2022 after years of irregular contracts and long shifts, workers and union officials told Reuters.

“Montblanc ended the contract because we wanted to work eight hours a day, five days a week as legal workers,” said 23-year-old Zain Ali, from Pakistan. He worked for Z Production for two and a half years, applying metal Montblanc logos to leather accessories: “They just wanted slaves.”

#world