Hope is rekindled for the complex dispute of the former LSU and LPU of Calabria. Yesterday, at the regional citadel of Germaneto in Catanzaro, an important summit took place between the regional councilor for Labor, Giovanni Calabrese, and a delegation of the UGL Autonomie Calabria union, composed of Gianvincenzo Petrassi, Romolo Cozza, Giovanni Conforti, Giulio Pignataro and Luca Muzzoppappa.
At the center of the discussion is the situation of around ten thousand workers who have been guaranteeing the functioning of essential services in over 360 Calabrian municipalities for almost three decades, but who still today face the consequences of part-time contracts and a heavy contribution gap, also resulting from over a decade of historical precariousness.
The union’s platform: three key points
The UGL delegation presented Councilor Calabrese with a platform based on three strategic interventions, designed to operate without changing expenditure by drawing on national and regional resources already allocated:
Increase in contractual hours: to overcome the part-time regime and increase employees’ income levels.
Flexible mobility between institutions: to allow transfers between administrations, giving priority to the completion of working hours.
Coverage of contribution gaps: a measure considered urgent to integrate the years of service without full contributions and prevent workers from retiring with checks below the minimum wages.
Towards the September table with the Region, Ministry and ANCI
The meeting revealed a common desire to speed up the process, taking into account that several employees are already reaching retirement age. Among the first agreed operational steps is the creation of an updated numerical survey of the basin, essential for mapping the outputs created over the years and defining sustainable interventions on certain technical bases.
The union has announced that in the coming months it intends to solicit not only the Regional Council and Council, but also the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). The shared objective is to arrive at a joint discussion table in September which sees the Calabria Region, the Ministry of Labor and the ANCI sitting at the same table.