Milan New US Consulate Construction Site Reaches €31 Million Settlement; Prosecutors Call It Largest Labor Exploitation Case in European History

More than 60 foreign construction workers who laid the foundation for the new US consulate in Milan signed an agreement on Wednesday, with each receiving an average of tens of thousands of euros in compensation, totaling €31 million. This sum is part of a settlement agreement reached with US Alabama-based Caddell Construction Company. Milan prosecutors called this the largest labor exploitation settlement in European history.

According to a Deutsche Welle report, most of the workers came from India, with the rest from Nigeria, Kenya, and Bangladesh. They claimed they were paid less than $2 (€1.8) per hour while working 10 hours a day, six days a week on the site, had accommodation costs illegally deducted, and never received overtime pay. Workers also said they received threats and were unable to obtain proper medical treatment after suffering injuries.

Dilip Ram, a 43-year-old Indian mason from Bihar, had worked at the site for more than two years. After signing, he told a Deutsche Welle reporter: "Conditions are better than before; we now have more rest time. This makes a big difference. This compensation will be a good thing. Because the workers encountered trouble, that is why there is this settlement."

The prosecutors' allegations point to an exploitation chain stretching from Indian recruiters, through overseas intermediaries, to the Italian construction site. Indian workers disclosed they had paid recruiters €5,000 ($5,600) in India to obtain these job opportunities. Prosecutors also charged that workers were paid less than $2 per hour after arriving in Italy and had accommodation costs illegally deducted, trapping them in debt bondage.

However, the settlement failed to reach the infringements at the very top of the chain. Milan prosecutors acknowledged that the abuses occurring in the recruitment phase within India fall outside Italian judicial jurisdiction. This means that the high fees workers paid to local recruiters in India to secure work in Europe, and the resulting debt bondage, will continue to remain in a legal accountability blind spot.

An even more critical accountability gap points to the US Department of State. As the owner of the consulate project, the US government is the contractual client of Caddell Construction Company, but what role it played in the labor oversight chain, and whether it was aware of violations within the subcontracting chain, has not yet been disclosed through any independent investigation. The settlement targets one American contractor, while the project itself serves American diplomatic presence.

The scale and longest duration of the alleged exploitation still require final determination through judicial procedures.