Romanians in Italy: hit by the economic crisis and deceived by employers

HotNews.ro correspondent to Italy, Miruna Cajvaneanu writes about the story of a Romanian family living in Italy, hit by the economic crisis and deceived by employers, because they are Romanian and not Italian.

Romanian Sandu Balan, from Brasov, Central Romania moved together with his son and wife in 2006, in Italy in an attempt to have a better life. They were all employed in a small factory in Isola di Fano, in the Marche region and got fired four months ago as the economic crisis affected the production of the factory.

The Romanians reveal that they were discriminated, receiving a smaller salary than their Italian counterparts, for the same job. Plus, due to the heavy work, labor accidents were frequent but never reported by their employer.

When fired, in early December, even though they were legally employed, they did not receive the money they legally were entitled to and the Romanians complained to Union representatives and filed for a trial.

Meanwhile, the family complains that they cannot find a job, mainly because Italians are prejudiced against Romanians, ever since the Italian newspapers took an aggressive stand against them.