A few days ago we had told through data and analysis the other face of Lake Como all luxury and VIP, the one made up of precarious contracts, low salaries, exhausting shifts, cost of living and impossible rents, probably in many cases even exploitation (“Lake of Como more and more luxury and VIPs, increasingly poor and precarious work”). And through our channels (starting from email [email protected] through which we guarantee, upon request, the protection of privacy, and which naturally also hosts opposing points of view) the first stories arrive. Below is that of Maurizio, a fictional name, who offers us his testimony of his work in the world of bars and restaurants in Como. A single and specific case, of course, which cannot be representative of the whole. But which, without hypocrisy, shows a dark side of the tourist boom which certainly exists and which perhaps is talked about too little. Renewing the invitation to workers and, why not, also to restaurateurs or hotel entrepreneurs, to tell us about personal experiences, points of view, stories experienced firsthand, here are Maurizio’s words.
Good evening, I just read your article where, rightly, someone is finally bringing to light precarious work in Como in the tourism sector when instead tourism and consequently the profits linked to the tourism business are growing. I have been working in the sector for many years and I ask you for discretion and anonymity, but it is just as you wrote in addition to the fact that there is exploitation starting from bars and restaurants but above all in luxury hotels where waiters and cooks work 12/14 hours a day. day and sometimes even more, while in the other departments we work 7 hours.
One of the main reasons that have made people turn away from this profession are the 7/8 hour flat rate contracts but with all the extra hours they are NEVER paid. It’s a sort of blackmail: if things don’t go well, you stay home at the end of the season.
Como people haven’t been hired in hotel restaurants for years and now almost no Italians anymore. Just look at the bars, restaurants and hotels in the centre, I would be willing to meet you but without being filmed or recorded to tell stories, otherwise customers and colleagues would recognize me.
Kind regards and say that it is above all luxury hotels that exploit their staff the most. This is demonstrated by the fact that every year they redo the restaurant and kitchen staff from scratch and it is not true that they can’t find the staff: the point is that they often don’t want to hire them so as not to pay salaries more suited to a professional.
“I worked in the Como restaurant industry. Between Porlezza and Valle Intelvi 600 euros for 16 hours, humiliation and anxiety”
