«With Mayor Frontini we have re-established normal union relations after she took a step back as we had intended».
This morning’s sit-in of the Uil of Viterbo under the Municipality of Viterbo, with around a hundred militants, led by the regional secretary Alberto Civica and the provincial secretary Giancarlo Turchetti, has borne fruit. On the plate were the mayor’s sentences, uttered in the famous poison dinner at the home of councilor Marco Bruzziches. Frontini had defined 50% of municipal employees as “human material to be thrown away” and used the phrase “that idiot Turchetti from Uil…” regarding Turchetti’s decision to move the new headquarters outside the historic center. «At the sit-in there were about a hundred people – says secretary Turchetti – with shirts, flags and banners. There were chants against the mayor but this is part of the industrial action. The mayor came down to us and took a step back from what she said because we have to contextualize everything in a private dinner and that it was not her intention to offend anyone, much less the Uil which she respects and esteems as well as me.”
Same thing for the employees who “didn’t want to offend – continues Turchetti – and just wanted to say that there are some pockets to be sorted out within the Municipality and to stimulate the employees and try to solve the problem. An apology has been made and we can re-establish normal trade union relations which are needed for negotiations with the Municipality.”
«On the issue of personnel – said the mayor in the square in front of Civica and Turchetti after coming to the Uil sit-in – we met no later than a few days ago and I think we finally clarified once and for all. I said there are pockets of inefficiency here as in other places. And I hope that the union will be supportive in improving the evaluation system and internal administration issues. I’m sorry if anyone felt offended, the point was not to offend anyone but, in a private context which then became public, everything must be contextualised.” So the explanations on the strong words towards Turchetti: «As far as you and Uil are concerned – the mayor said to Turchetti – how did that situation arise? We spoke about this before: that statement was born in the context of an interview that was given (by Turchetti, ed.) on the historic center and about which I called you immediately. I had considered it a gratuitous attack on the administration. You yourself told me that it had been a bit exacerbated in the concepts because it wasn’t exactly what you wanted to say.” The “asshole” towards Turchetti, therefore, would have derived, according to Frontini, from Turchetti’s lack of tact in taking the Uil headquarters out of the historic center, with words said in a private dinner.
«We are making efforts for the historic center – the mayor said to the Uil secretary – knowing that there is a public service like yours that is leaving and feeling saddled with responsibilities was not nice. The specific term must be contextualized in a private dinner, it was not an offense towards your organization with which there has always been respect and esteem in institutional relationships as well as in negotiations. If you are proudly an idiot, I am proudly a real person who, in the context of a private dinner, said what he felt like saying.”
