Upcoming renewals of public contracts, but not for everyone
The speech by Michele Poerio, Confedir general secretary
Minister Brunetta signed the address document that will allow the renewal of the collective agreement for the staff of the central functions sector, ministries, agencies, public bodies.
Confedir welcomes the initiative of the minister, who confirmed his statements, to which we had also appealed to this effect last Friday.
The satisfaction, however, is partial, because the renewals will not be contextual for all categories of public personnel, but only for some, large management areas excluded from the renewal which also include, it is worth remembering, doctors, school managers, local authorities .
The staff who in recent months have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19, some, the doctors, faithful to the Hippocratic oath, who have fought with their bare hands against an invisible, unknown enemy, in some cases sacrificing their lives to save that of patients, others, on the other hand, loyal to the State, who for months have tried to reorganize work, school, present in the office, often giving up agile work, to understand how to guarantee the services and health of their own collaborators with new organizational methods, with new processes.
For the latter, the agreement signed in Aran on April 15 provides for a postponement of the definition of the composition of the management areas, a definition that is preparatory for contract renewals.
The negotiations lasted for two years, an impediment to paragraph 687 of law no. 145/2018 which places the PTA management staff (professional, technical and administrative management of the NHS) in the Health Area. This position is also confirmed in the guideline for the framework agreement.
During the two-year period, some trade union organizations have so far tried unsuccessfully to have paragraph 687 amended, citing the intervention of the legislator in contractual matters as a motivation.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened, but this does not justify a 24-month deadlock in negotiations while waiting for some trade union organizations to be able to have a law amended in Parliament. With the agreement of April 15, there will therefore be a further postponement of the agreement for the management areas.
The substantial reasons why such personnel should be included in the Health Area we have explained in a statement in the minutes addressed to the Aran and the Confederations present at the table, a statement that we have made public to avoid unnecessary exploitation of our choice.
We understand the reasons for the yes to the agreement of various Parties, who faced the possibility of a renewal of the contracts of the central functions sector, out of a sense of responsibility, had to sign the agreement, the less we understand the reasons of those who represent only the public management.
Our no to the agreement and the postponement is not in this case an expression of a power of interdiction, as defined by Sabino Cassese in an editorial published by Corriere della Sera on 31 March, quite the contrary.
Our no is not only to postponement, but also to old practices that need to be overcome.
At this time, more than ever, a unanimous stance was needed so that the renewal of contracts was contextual for all public sector personnel, so that the Regions would issue the deeds of address of competence at the same time as that of the Minister of Public Administration, thus allowing the ooss management to negotiate on certain matters such as trade union relations, agile work, career advancements, supplementary funds, transversal disciplines that risk having to simply, supinely, incorporate the contracts of the sector. In reality, we are also firmly convinced that some institutions should have been regulated in a framework agreement. We are, in fact, convinced that inclusive decision-making processes are the best.
Confedir, therefore, is for changes not for inertia, even in trade union relations.
We firmly believe that the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic requires important innovations in the Public Administration, which must be the catalyst for the recovery of our country and the Recovery Plan.
The next contractual renewals and framework agreements must also be faced with a view to changes and innovations, appropriate to the time we are living and to the dynamics in progress.
We are therefore due to the changes, almost twenty years have passed since the establishment of ARAN (Agency for the Negotiating Representation of Public Administrations with Legislative Decree 29/1993) and the Public Administration is no longer the same. Changing also means taking up the challenges that this time throws at us, that the emergency imposes on us, challenges that can turn into opportunities. We are convinced that our Public Administration, our public management class is ready for future challenges, even the trade unions must be so in order to be recognized, not as holders of interdiction, but holders of a constructive dialogue for the growth of the country and the its democracy.
Michele Poerio , Confedir general secretary
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/rinnovi-imminenti-dei-contratti-pubblici-ma-non-per-tutti/ on Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:10:34 +0000.