“The spotlight is turned on on the Sicilian cultural heritage only when management scandals break out or news episodes such as thefts in regional museums are recorded, while silence falls on the future of dozens of workers who every day guarantee the opening, use and protection of the most prestigious sites in the province”. This is the heart of the complaint by the CGIL Filcams of Messina, the Filcams Cgil and the Fp Cgil, who officially proclaimed the state of agitation of the staff employed in the contracted services at the archaeological parks of Naxos and Taormina, of Tindari and the Aeolian Islands.
Despite months of formal requests and reminders remaining unanswered, the trade union organizations complain about the total absence of a preventive discussion table in an extremely delicate phase: the approaching deadlines of the tender procedures for the services currently managed by the companies Aditus and Civita. At the center of the dispute, the unions argue, is the “lack of transparency on the procurement process – with the Administration’s refusal to issue the legal opinion relating to the national contracts applied – and the concrete risk that in the new contracts a National Collective Labor Agreement (CCNL) will be applied that is different and less protective than the current one, with heavy economic and regulatory repercussions on employees”.
Having taken note of the recent decree with which the new Director of the Archaeological Park of Naxos and Taormina, Dr. Adriana Pizzino, was appointed, the unions ask for an immediate reversal of course and an urgent summons to the Regional Department of Cultural Heritage, the Department and the companies involved. “It is not acceptable that for months we have been asking for an institutional discussion and that we are even denied access to the documents on the legal opinions relating to the contract to be applied in the new tenders – intervenes Stefania Radici, CGIL Messina confederal secretariat -. The key point is contractual equivalence: we will not allow a downward game to be played on the skin of the workers by replacing the current contract with a pejorative one. The appointment of the new management of the Naxos Park must immediately mark the opening of a transparent table to guarantee the salary levels and the professionalism gained in recent years”.
On the close connection between the dignity of work in cultural sites and the entire hospitality sector – declares Damiano Di Giovanni of Filcams Cgil Messina – “there is a lot of talk about culture and the protection of our heritage only when management scandals or media cases explode like those involving the Regional Museum of Messina. But culture lives on thanks to those who, every day, welcome visitors to Taormina, Giardini Naxos, Tindari and the Aeolian Islands. Our national campaign ‘There is no tourism without us’ is not a slogan, but a concrete reality: these workers have no certainty about their future in the light of the new tenders. Without respect for their rights and without continuity of employment, the entire tourism and cultural system of the area is destined to stop”.
Finally, to underline the strategic and public value of the service, Elena De Pasquale of the Fp Cgil Messina: “We are talking about a sector of primary public interest and sites that represent the calling card of Sicily in the world. The quality of the cultural services offered to the community goes hand in hand with the protection and economic recognition of those who work there. The trade union confrontation is not an annoying bureaucratic requirement, but an indispensable tool of democracy and transparency. We proclaim a state of agitation so that those who govern these processes take responsibility immediately the responsibility of guaranteeing the future of these people”.
While waiting for an urgent call from the Department and the competent managements, the three trade unions announce that, in the absence of concrete answers in the short term, they will implement all the mobilization initiatives necessary to protect workers.