MiBACT seeks free workers: unworthy, offensive and dangerous

In the famous final scene of the 1988 film Fantozzi va in pensione (Fantozzi retires),Italy’s most famous accountant, retired but prey to nostalgia for when he used to work and eager to resume his now old daily routine, makes a pact with the Mega-Director, Duke Count Francesco Maria Barambani: Fantozzi is reinstated in the Mega-Direttore, but in exchange for his pension. Incredulous, Fantozzi asks the Mega-Director if he will have to pay to work: the Mega-Director’s answer is affirmative, but nevertheless, in order to return to his past, Fantozzi accepts the absurd request.

Well, in 2014, twenty-six years later, what seemed like a classic Fantozzi hyperbole, which would never take place, has become a sad reality: and we are not talking about small provincial companies that, perhaps, pass off poorly paid or not at all paid jobs as training, thus making the burdens of what the job entails (means of transportation, lunches, and whatnot) fall on the unfortunate new hires on duty. We are talking about a state institution, namely the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Last July 7, the MiBACT put out a post on its Facebook page making the public aware of the “Public Notice for the submission of proposals to carry out cultural events on the occasion of the event Nights at the Museum.” The link in the post has been removed, but the MiBACT notice can still be found online, for example at this link.

To sum up: the MiBACT is looking for “physical and legal persons who intend to carry out cultural events free of charge in favor of the Ministry, excluding party or political organizations.” All to be held every Friday of the month, coinciding with the evening openings of museums established by Franceschini’s Culture Decree. So, in essence, the Ministry is looking for workers to lend their labor for free in order to organize events (covering, for example, as we read from the notice, these areas: “music, theater, dance, literature”) at museums on evening opening days. But that’s not all: workers must declare “to be in possession of adequate civil liability insurance policy for damage to persons and property” and to undertake to “observe all the regulations governing the realization of events, cultural activities, performances to be held in public places and/or open to the public.” Which translated means: workers, in addition to working for free, must also pay for their own insurance and SIAE. So, like in Fantozzi’s movie, they have to pay to work.

Actually, the Ministry had also tried this last year, on the occasion of the event A Night at the Museum, with an entirely similar notice on which, however, the discussion was brief and involved few people, also because the notice had a shorter duration (twelve days). Now, however, theoutrage affects a large part of the network and comes mainly from the grassroots. And we can only join this outrage. Indeed, we believe that the Ministry’s proposal is unworthy, offensive and dangerous.

It isunworthy because the state should be the first to recognize the dignity of workers, which is enshrined in the Constitution: in fact, Article 36 says that “the worker has the right to remuneration commensurate with the quantity and quality of his work and in any case sufficient to ensure for himself and his family a free and dignified existence.” It is therefore unworthy for an institution of the state, namely one of its ministries, to disregard a very high constitutional principle.

It isoffensive because cultural workers are regarded as hobbyists who can afford to work for free. But since they work, they have the very sacrosanct right to have their professionalism recognized, which, in most cases, has matured as a result of demanding courses of study and great sacrifices to obtain a specialization: to make such qualified people work for free is tantamount to insulting them, their families who made sacrifices to ensure that they obtained degrees and professionalism, their teachers who made sure that they succeeded in achieving their goals, and culture as a whole, because if you want to make culture workers work for free, it means that the drafters of this announcement do not have the fate of culture itself so close to their hearts.

It is dangerous because it sets a precedent and because it offers private individuals, who already in many cases wallow in situations bordering on legality and disregard for workers’ rights, a resounding justification: “if the state does not pay those who work for it, then why can’t I, a private individual, do the same?”

We hope, therefore, that this call for bids will go out and that the outrage will continue until the Ministry is forced to withdraw it. And to those who are thinking of participating, we say that working for free not only harms oneself, but also does great harm to others. For the above reasons.

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.