Sesto San Giovanni (Milan), 21 June 2024 – “We put love, passion and care into it. What do you put in it?”. And, again, “Starvation wages. Sickness paid at 75%. No 14th salary and risk allowance“. These are just some of the banners that can be read under the town hall. This afternoon, Friday 21 June, in Piazza della Resistenza it went on stage the protest of the educators of the Generariamo Foundation, established in 2019 by the Municipality of Sesto San Giovanni to manage some nurseries and services for the fragile.
“We must take care of those who take care of us”, “We too deserve a dignified present and future”, say the signs stuck on the walls of the municipal building and raised by the workers. Last week it openedor state of agitation and there was a first attempt at conciliation in the Prefecture, unsuccessful. So, today, the educators organized a trade union meeting e they took to the streets together with the CGIL.
“They accused us of being unionized, used by the acronyms. We have been trying to have a dialogue with the Foundation for years without success – explained the educators -. We want facts, we are tired of words. We sent a letter to our employer, which was ignored.” The educators entrusted their requests to that letter, read in the square: indemnity and greater protection, “because we are exposed to risks”, the right to sickness paid today at only 75%, “because even feeling ill is a luxury”, and a production bonus “based on objectively evaluable criteria”.
“Many of us worked in the municipality, with a local authority contract, before being transferred to the Foundation, which manages some nurseries on behalf of the municipality, while others remained under direct public management. Despite the same job, we have different contracts and rights. We arrive at a salary of 1,100 euros for 36 hours, which from September will also have to cover the 18 hours to keep services open because we cannot find staff. No one comes to work in the Generariamo Foundation nurseries anymore or those who are just passing through come.”
To the workers of the Foundation the local authority contract of public service colleagues can no longer be applied. “We know, in fact we never asked – explained Jessica Merli, general secretary of the Flc-Cgil of Milan, who spoke at the gathering -. We ask for a supplementary contract, which equalizes the professional figures in economic treatment: if they do the same job they must have the same rights”.
