In the afternoon, a group of about 15 young men marched through the center of the busy Italian city of Bologna to a prestigious bakery shop on Strada Maggiore. Once there, they wore white plastic masks, some of them began to decorate windows and doors with posters saying "This place has a bad employer," while an activist with a megaphone reads testimony from an employee who says he has not been paid for months.
As curious passers-by stopped and watched, the shopkeeper confronted the protesters, trying to grab the megaphone, removing the masks of some protesters, and when he called the police, the group quickly dispersed.
The Strada Maggiore protest was one of the protests that have been held since the founding of the Padron di Merda group at the beginning of the year in Bologna, a wealthy city known for its food and universities. The group targeted 16 companies in the following months, mostly restaurants and bars.
The city is famous for the dish «lasagna» and «Tortellini and Tajilatel Raju». Many Italians were alarmed by the youth, including the mayor of Bologna. The city also features a lively and growing dining scene with over 400 restaurants, bars and cafes in the central area.
This combination of education and food has given Bologna the nickname “learners are fat.” A 2017 government report estimated that the illegal “gray economy” accounted for 72.6 percent of jobs in the city, a record even in Italy, where unregulated employment is common.
One of the members of the local trade union, Francisco Defincente, says university students are particularly vulnerable to illegal labor because they need to pay for their studies and consider it a transition.
An activist in the Padron de Merda group, who uses the nickname "Davide", says the situation has worsened over the past decade, because parents give less money to their students.
The group began this kind of protest against the exploitation of students, as residents of Bologna began to share their stories of practical experiences and saw it as "very similar," says one of the founders of the group, a university student using the alias Barbara.
Padron de Merda targeted a pub accused of sexual harassment on her first exit, then created a Facebook page and received more reports.
“There was a pizzeria changing staff every three months, and we received complaints through the page,” says Barbara.
Activists reveal allegations of bad employers in local newspaper reports, or on social media, and before organizing any protest, Barbara says the group first conducts partial investigations to verify complaints, because they fear that fake account holders will try to identify the group's members.
The group uses its posters to alert the public to any place accused of exploiting workers to drive away customers, because they believe the warning may persuade employers to act more fairly in the future.
"We put up the posters in the hope that we will not come back, when you are a victim, everyone is supportive," Barbara said.
Anonymity
Although activists wear masks at the protests and hide their real identities on the Internet for fear of being linked to the group, their waiter sparked a protest in front of the Strada Maggiore cafe, Andrea Bassi, revealing his real name.
In March, Bassi wrote on his Facebook page that he had not received his salary for four months. "I decided to do it after seeing an advertisement sponsored by my employer who owes me money," he said.
This publication has been shared more than 1,700 times and has been seen by the group that later organized a protest. Passy believes that Padron de Merda's actions highlight a widespread problem in Bologna, although he refused to invite them to participate in the protest because he was “not convinced”. With their methods. ”