On 29 July 2024, the trade union organization formally reported to the Calabria Region the condition of serious degradation of the sessions in use at the Employment Center of San Giovanni in Fiore, used both by staff and users, highlighting that many of them are worn, not suitable and dangerous in terms of safety, as required by articles 63 and 64 of Legislative Decree. 81/2008, declares the trade union organization.
The state of the furnishings – the office has 7 employees and all the chairs present are damaged. The slightly better ones do not allow the height regularity, because the regulation mechanism is broken and does not maintain the set position. This condition seriously compromises the safety and well -being of workers, observes the trade union organization.
The attached photos unequivocally document the state of degradation of the sessions, now consumed and inadequate, with evident risks both for the staff and for citizens. A situation that not only compromises the decoration of the environments, but exposes workers and users to concrete dangers for health and safety.
Despite a subsequent reminder sent on 11 September 2024, the regional administration did not provide any response or communicated an intervention plan. Only after the reporting of the employee – who had undergone a fracture of the spine with surgery performed on June 18, 2025 and which had returned to service on September 2, 2025 – the administration ordered the smartworking until the supply of the chair. The same worker was even forced to bring a cushion from home to make the use of the united chair from an ergonomic and safety point of view more tolerable.
The trade union organization underlines that the problem of sessions does not only concern the worker who has reported the issue, but involves all employees of the Employment Center, which must work with inadequate and worn chairs daily.
By way of direct documentation of the affair, the communications sent by the worker and the response of the Administration are reported below:
Working email to the Region (September 18, 2024)
“Dear, I continue to have health problems due to the lack of an adequate chair, given my delicate intervention: spine fracture. Given the repeated requests in recent months, raising the request …”
Administration response (September 18, 2024)
“Very kind, given that the chair has not yet been provided, the SV is placed in smartworking until it perverts the chair what it is, which will be provided by the Department of belonging.”
The union manager Gianluca Tedesco observes: the solution adopted for the reporting employee represents only a temporary intervention and does not solve the general problem. The question of the other six office workers remains open, who continue to use inadequate chairs: is it also decided to offer them smartworking as a response to the lack of chairs compliant with Legislative Decree 81/2008?
Reference to public liability – The problem does not concern only workers. It is an office that welcomes citizens daily, and the current conditions compromise the decorum and credibility of the public administration, undermining the trust of citizens in regional services, observes the trade union organization.
Widespread problem – The trade union organization believes that what happened in San Giovanni in Fiore is not an isolated episode, but represents a widespread problem in the peripheral offices of the Calabria region, including the employment centers. The lack of maintenance and attention to the working and reception of users concerns many offices outside the regional citadel, with evident consequences both for workers and for citizens who go there, declares the trade union organization.
The German union manager forcefully ask for an immediate intervention of the Region, with the replacement of all worn and not compliant sessions with adequate chairs and responding to the ergonomic criteria provided for by Legislative Decree 81/2008, starting from that of San Giovanni in Fiore, and invites the administration to comply with the most elementary rules on safety and work well -being.
We cannot speak of reform of active policies and strengthening of employment centers if they do not guarantee dignified and adequate working conditions for those who are called to guarantee a fundamental service for citizens, the trade union organization are not guaranteed.