There is no peace in Viale Mazzini. Not even at the end of the corporate mandate. There are no schedules yet (which will have to be presented shortly) but on the horizon there are those who are raising the alarm about a new cronyism. The son of a friend of CEO Roberto Sergio and a former Casapound militant, brother of a representative of Fratelli d’Italia and Lega. In the center, two of the multimedia programmers hired by Rai with a direct call as part of a selection process carried out in recent months by a private company. The affair provoked protests from the unions already last May and now, after an article in Repubblica.it, the opening of an audit by Viale Mazzini and lively protests from the opposition who speak of “familism” and “old political methods”, asking that the matter be addressed as soon as possible by the Supervisory Commission. The episode was reported on May 10 by the single union representation of the Radio Management. “We have received news – wrote the RSU – of the direct hiring as first-level multimedia programmers of several staff units with the role of director, through a selection process managed by the Adecco company”. The affair – as reconstructed in an article from just over a month ago on the Professione Reporter website – had caused protests in Rai because the recruitment methods had bypassed the demands of Rai staff, fair contract agreements, the stabilization of temporary workers and unemployment lists. The national secretariats of Snater and Conf.Sal-Libersind had also stigmatized the affair. Now it has been discovered that among those hired is Matteo Tarquini, son of Giovanni, a long-time friend of CEO Roberto Sergio, who was also his best man at his wedding. Tarquini, who had already had previous jobs at Radio Rai, was hired with a first-level contract. Among the collaborators hired is also Ferdinando Colloca, body painter and DJ, aka ‘Mr Ferdy the Guru’, sent to the Day Time Entertainment Department. Colloca, linked for business reasons to the Spada family, was a Casapound militant in Ostia and a candidate in the regional elections. He is the brother of a member of Fratelli d’Italia and then Lega, Salvatore, who is a director-programmer at Rai, and of Gaetano, also a Rai employee in the digital area. Following the article published on Repubblica.it, Rai has activated an audit to protect the company and the figure of the CEO. The opposition is, however, ready to fight. “If the news of cronyism at Rai were confirmed, it would be of unprecedented gravity,” say the M5S members in the Supervisory Board. “We will immediately bring this case to the Commission.” Similar protests come from the Greens and the Left, as well as from Maria Elena Boschi. “What are the criteria for hiring? Why were the rankings not respected?” asks the Italia Viva MP. “The current Rai management must give answers to these questions, not to us, but to the Italian citizens who pay the license fee and have the right to transparency.” “After years of competitions, public selections and stabilization of precarious workers in Rai, we are returning to the methods of the old politics: hiring for friends and relatives”, underlines the president of the Fnsi, Vittorio Di Trapani, in X. The response of Francesco Palese, secretary of the Unirai union, is not long in coming: “we acknowledge the audit launched by Rai on some recent hirings. But we also need to shed light on the last few years to understand if there have been preferential lanes for relatives and friends of politicians and trade unionists. Having said this, one of the priorities of our union action will be to guarantee everyone the recognition of the right contract and put an end to precarious employment”.
