Castiglione’s Multicultural Society: Employment Drives Integration
A piece of advice for those who want a practical example of a multicultural society: consult the registry records of the Comune di Castiglione delle Stiviere. Since last July, the nationalities present in the area have increased to fifty-two, totaling nearly eleven hundred legal immigrants out of eighteen thousand residents. This is an absolute record for the entire province, so much so that some compare Castiglione to the United States of America, where, moreover, integration is not always solid. But what is the mechanism that ensures the consolidation of African, Asian, Eastern European, and South American communities? Work. Unions and the Industrial Association agree on this point: immigrants are in a state of full employment.
Presence and integration in the territory
A piece of advice for those who want a practical example of a multicultural society: consult the registry records of the Comune di Castiglione delle Stiviere. Since last July, the nationalities present in the area have increased to fifty-two, totaling nearly eleven hundred legal immigrants out of eighteen thousand residents. This is an absolute record for the entire province, so much so that some compare Castiglione to the United States of America, where, moreover, integration is not always solid. But what is the mechanism that guarantees the consolidation of African, Asian, Eastern European, and South American communities? Work. Unions and the Industrial Association agree on this point: immigrants are in a state of full employment.
In Castiglione, there are four hundred Moroccans, seventy Ghanaians, one hundred and eighty-six Nigerians, one hundred and five Yugoslavians, fifty-three Chinese, thirty-two Albanians. Among others, there are Bosnians, Argentinians, Bangladeshis, Czechs, Dominicans, Finns, Macedonians, Russians, South Koreans, Togolese, Turks. Germans, British, Americans, Swiss, and French are affiliated with multinational companies. Each community has grown over the past ten years thanks to those ‘pioneers’ who, at the end of the 1980s, arrived in the hill town without any support. They accepted any job, but over time, many were able to choose. For example, about 80% of welders in small metalworking companies are, according to estimates from the CGIL union, Moroccan. Additionally, in the fleet of truck drivers at Bertani Autotrasporti, forty-three Yugoslavians, ten Poles, and one Croatian are employed.
Specialized and educated (many have technical diplomas, although often not recognized in our country), non-EU citizens studied at the vocational training center activated by the Regione Lombardia and sought support from relatives and friends. Integration into large companies was gradual but steady, and entrepreneurs welcomed the necessary workforce to support growth. According to the union, non-EU workers are predominantly guaranteed by their contracts in the larger companies, while in smaller firms, there is a risk of exploitation and illegal work. Indeed, not only ‘official’ factories exist: dozens of small cooperatives work mostly as subcontractors. Here, problems do arise: ‘The fact,’ comments Alfredo Papa of CGIL di Castiglione, ‘is that these cooperatives are born and die in very short order, making control impossible.’ But integration does not only happen during working hours: associations such as the Moroccan Elyaraa (the pen) and the Ghanaian Good Citizen (good citizens) have also been established in Castiglione.
