The UIL conference on the figure of social workers in new territorial areas took place on Friday 24 May in Verona, moderator Marco Bognin.
The conference explored the new organization of social services, with an integrated perspective for the health and social care services that will develop in the different territories, contextualized in a period of rapid social evolution.
The Veneto Region has defined 24 Social Territorial Areas (ATS) for the region, 4 for the province of Verona, of which a new one for eastern Verona led by the municipality of San Bonifacio.
The ATS are supra-municipal bodies that will serve for the implementation of the Essential Levels of Social Services (Leps), essential to guarantee governance compliant with Law 328 of 2000.
«Essential – second Stefano Gottardi, Uil Fpl general secretary — begin a dialogue with industry experts to address upcoming challenges in advance, addressing potential problems and proposing preventive solutions to ensure the readiness of services. We promote collaborative dialogue as the main means of offering support to people and communities in difficult situations.
We are convinced that the role of Social Workers deserves to be valorised, as it represents a fundamental pillar for tackling social challenges. Their active presence in the field contributes significantly to the creation of a more inclusive, supportive and attentive society to the needs of all its citizens. Today more than ever, concludes Gottardi, it is essential that Social Workers are included among the staff who receive fair contractual and economic recognition, to prevent them from being dispersed in other sectors as is happening with other professionals”.
The social visions of the speakers
The regional secretary Uil Fpl Spider Mario underlined the importance of joining trade union activity, encouraging social workers to participate in the next RSU election so as not to be excluded.
Second Anna Furlanissocial worker of the Verona municipality and Uil union leader, the role of social workers and their impact on the social context is evolving and they will have to relate to the new ATS structures, which will be called upon to represent all the municipalities involved and interact with the Ulss to the provision of services.
Citizens will no longer find themselves dealing with the municipality, but with a new, larger body. It is essential at this point to provide adequate support during the transition. A paradigm shift is necessary, concluded Furlanis, moving from a generative welfare system to a civil welfare model that actively involves Third Sector entities. In this new approach, everyone becomes responsible for their own skills to be closer to citizens, promoting circular subsidiarity.
The councilor for social services of the municipality of Verona, Luisa Ceni, highlighted the challenges in mediating between the opinions of the mayors and delegates of the different territorial areas. The territory of Verona and the municipalities of eastern Verona was too large, so a subdivision was necessary which was approved by the Region.
Verona was able to maintain the existing structure without having to create a new company.
Giampaolo Provoli, mayor of San Bonifacio and leader for the new ATS of eastern Verona, underlined the particularity of the socio-health connection that characterizes the Veneto, known as the “double S”, which saw us last to face the evolution in the management of social services, after 24 years, thus slowing down progress compared to other regions. ATS requires a change in mindset. It will be difficult to get all the mayors to agree.
For Matteo Peruzzi, president of Federsolidarietà, the role of the Third Sector, the relationship between the municipalities and the Ulss and the economic problem due to the failure to review the contracts, now considered unsustainable, are important. He relaunched the figure of the social worker as a sentinel in the area.
Chiara Luisetto, regional councilor of the Democratic Party, an expert in social issues, recalled the importance of the law which guarantees an equal service to all citizens, with particular attention to small municipalities. Resources are limited: 1.5 million for 2024 and 2 million for each of the next 2 years, divided between 24 ATS, correspond to 80 thousand euros each. Considering the hiring of a director, how much will be left for the administrative structure to be established? There are not enough resources to guarantee the solidity of the structure over time, avoiding dependence on the individual municipalities that are part of it.
For Mirella Zambello president of the Order of Social Workers of Veneto, participation is important to present concrete proposals and obtain tangible results. We are facing an epochal transformation, albeit belated, which redefines the role of the profession of social workers. The partnership with the Veneto Region has allowed us to receive funding from the ministry, used to improve local social services. We must continue to follow effective practices if they are bringing good results. Change, evolution and collaboration will be key to developing quality services.
Rita Longobardi national secretary of Uil Fpl, highlighted that those who govern us do not have clear ideas about the country’s project: in recent years politics has focused its commitment on short-term speculative activity, to obtain the best result at electoral appointments, leaving aside problems that are negatively impacting the population. In the Third Sector, for the same job you must have the same salary, it is not possible to have a contractual jungle, with those who take advantage of it to do contractual dumping.
