There is a new mobilization among the workers of the administrative offices of the Court of Bergamo and now also of the Prosecutor’s Office, who will be on stand duty in the city center on Wednesday 8 May, in front of the Prefecture in Via Tasso, from 11am to midday.
Various problems in the offices
The protest was motivated by a unilaterally modified agreement on working hours, but also by a long list of problems, the same ones that afflict all judicial offices throughout Italy: salaries that are not adequate for the cost of living, additional salaries that are not very remunerative and are also paid years later, meal vouchers that have not been used for twenty years (and not even accepted by businesses), safety problems in the offices, requalifications never obtained, lack of training in the face of continuous reforms in the sector.
Not to mention increasingly complex electoral tasks paid only after years, hearings that extend beyond working hours, the Single Administration Fund defined as “derisory” and procedures on staff performance as “useless and farcical”.
The dispute
Today (Friday 3 May) I explain the dynamics that led to the mobilization Leopoldo Chiummo for FP-Cgil, Fabio D’Aniello for Cisl-Fp, Francesca Mezzanotte for Flp e Antonello Solimeno for USB Public Employment, with the RSU delegates of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office.
«The staff has been in a state of agitation since January 30, after having held a series of meetings – they said -. The protest began due to the management’s unilateral modification of the current agreement, signed in 2017 after a long period of negotiation on working hours. The agreement appeared to be very far-sighted and innovative in terms of flexibility: in particular, among other measures, nine hours per month of surplus time were authorized which could be used, by the hour or for the whole day, within the following month” .
However, according to the reconstruction of the unions «the Management, after a series of interpretative somersaults, initially considering the additional hours “outlawed”, reduced the possibility of accumulation from nine to four hours, also introducing a daily limit of 29 minutes. This unilateral change triggered the proclamation of a state of unrest, in consideration of the contribution given by all employees over the years, the chronic shortage of staff, the inspections undergone and overcome with great sacrifices and, last but not least, the specificity of a decimated headquarters from Covid which, even in the darkest moments, has never closed.”
Closing at the table
To resolve the dispute, a first meeting was held in the Prefecture on 22 March, in which – at the request of the union – a representative of the Ministry of Justice also participated. «The Director of Office IV of the Ministry had in fact intervened but did not provide exhaustive answers and indeed maintained a de facto dilatory attitude» the representatives underlined.
«At that table, we were assured that Rome would submit a request to the Labor Inspectorate to get a definitive answer on the legitimacy or otherwise of the agreement, but that it would take at least six months. All the trade union organizations present requested that the unilateral modification of the agreement be suspended, but the response was a total closure of the Court manager. We were asked to take a step back, but nothing was done on the employers’ side, demonstrating a lack of respect for the basic rules of bargaining.”
Subsequently, the RSU of the Prosecutor’s Office also joined the protest, due to the serious staff shortage affecting that office. They will be in the garrison together next Wednesday 8 May, when they will ask to be received by the Prefect, to explain the reasons for the protest again.
