Morocco-Sicily migrant labor agreement signed in Palermo

A  Memorandum of Understanding that will offer Moroccan nationals the opportunity to undergo vocational training to work in Italy was signed March 28 in the Sicilian city of Palermo.

Sicilian and Moroccan labor groups signed an agreement that will allow Moroccan workers to be trained in Morocco for seasonal employment in Sicily.

The deal was signed by the Sicily Foreign Workers Association, the Human Solidarity Consortium and the General Union of Moroccan Workers (UGTM).

The UGTM of Fez will be tasked with supporting and funding the training in Morocco and recruiting pupils.

The initiative is open to all companies in Italy that want to take part. More information is available here: www.migrants.work.

The supporters of the deal hope it will enable Italian companies and families to look for and employ trained staff with language skills, thereby countering labor exploitation.

"We want to offer migrants appropriate alternatives to the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea," said Paolo Ragusa, regional chairman of the Foreign Workers Association.

Sicily's regional councillor for social policies, Nuccia Albano, continued: "Those coming from abroad can in this way be integrated more quickly and in a better way into the enterprises seeking qualifies manpower."