In October 2021, 22-year-old Yaya Yafa went to work at Bologna’s Interporto warehouse complex and never came home. He died in a workplace accident, his death another in a series of fatal accidents within the Italian logistics industry. Yafa was a refugee from Guinea Bissau and his death highlighted an emerging issue in Italy: asylum seekers working in the high-pressure, underregulated logistics sector. As refugees flee the war in Ukraine, some reports describe their welcome into Italy. But activists and previous asylum seekers are speaking out. They say there’s a cold, racist reality behind the warm, welcoming smile.
SDA, the company in charge of the warehouse where Yafa worked, is linked to the national postal service and was used to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine. The whole Interporto complex is part of a pact with local authorities for what they call ‘ethical logistics’.
A parliamentary commission visited the SDA warehouse less than two months after Yafa’s fatal accident but found no particular workplace issues there. Migrants, local groups and grassroots trade unions tell an entirely different story that includes a lack of proper safety measures, long chains of contracting and subcontracting, and inadequate training of workers, who are sometimes recruited on a daily basis. A criminal investigation into Yafa’s death is ongoing.
