No to Civil Service competitive recognition, a stopgap to fill gaps. Mi Riconosci's letter

Activists of the movement “Do you recognize me? I am a cultural heritage professional” have drafted an open letter, addressed to the young professionals who in recent days have asked the Minister of Cultural Heritage Alberto Bonisoli for recognition in the National Civil Service competition and the possibility of continuing to collaborate with the Mibac: in the writing, the activists express their opposition to the demands of their colleagues, inviting them to fight unitedly the battle to improve the sector.

Hi guys, or should we say colleagues,

we are the activists of Mi Riconosci who have volunteered a year with the National Civil Service in the past. And we want to say something to you.

When we read your letter to the newspapers on Thursday, July 12, we were amazed, bewildered, and immediately endorsed the movement’s choice to distance itself, with a post asking Fighting united for the rights of all and all seems bad? But many of you saw that post as an attack on the National Civil Service, or again a personal attack on your professionalism. It was none of those things, as was evident to most, and no, we are not questioning either your professionalism or your choice to participate in the Civil Service, we are criticizing the content of your letter . You accused us of pointing fingers, of not knowing, of not understanding, of not knowing: that is why we are writing these lines to you.

We, too, participated in the Civil Service in recent times. Why did we do it, despite the fact that it was 433 euros per month (3.6 euros per hour), no rights and no hope of renewal? Because, just like you, we wanted to work for our Cultural Heritage, we just didn’t feel like leaving it all behind, we were convinced it was a good opportunity, an enrichment for our career path, and because other calls and real job opportunities were not there.

Yes, we did it because we saw no alternative. But let’s be frank: jobs that pay more than 3.6 euros then in Italy there are quite a few. But we wanted to start working in the sector, it seemed like a chance to gain experience and get into the business, thinking: it’s an experience to put on your resume Maybe, then Understandable thoughts, but that not everyone does: so many of our colleagues decided not to do Civil Service, either by choice or by necessity. And so, let’s face it, we were also able to choose because we had someone to help us out, in case of hardship, to cover the cost of rent or the dentist. Not all our peers have the same luck.

We too are familiar with the growing bitterness and worries as the twelfth month of Civil Service approaches. We know, too, how sad it feels to have to leave a place where you will surely have settled in and where, perhaps, you will have established good relationships with colleagues and civil servants, from whom you will have received compliments and rewards for the work you have done; we know what it feels like to be told that they would like to but cannot really keep you on site because they have no money and do not know how to pay you. It is all very disheartening and infuriating, we know! Nevertheless, we have never thought of finding individualistic solutions and advancing personal interests, or those of a small group, to the detriment of our colleagues, just as we have never sought solutions that incentivize and legitimize cultural volunteering. On the contrary, we have always fought to demand professional dignity and fair wages for all.

You are full of titles you say, we do not doubt it. Over the years the Civil Service has been completely distorted: it has ceased to be pure volunteerism and has become a pool of professionals from which to draw to fill gaps. It is supported with European funds to boost employment, but as you have seen it does not boost employment. The fact that thousands and thousands of graduates have been working without contracts in Museums, Libraries, Archives, framed as Civil Service volunteers, is a dramatic reality. But it is a reality to be changed and not legitimized.

And then you come to last year’s announcement, yours, the first one promoted by MiBACT and paid for with MiBACT money, which deliberately chooses not to hire, but to use 1,000 Civil Service volunteers. A unicum, most serious, unheard of, forcefully denounced by us, made the front page of Il Fatto Quotidiano. All the more reason not to participate, given the precedent it would have set: if you can count on 1,000 volunteers a year without protections, why would you ever activate project collaborations?

You participated anyway, and we can understand you, and you are seeing what we tried to make you understand at the time: after a year of Civil Service there is nothing, because at MiBACT you were serving as a time-limited stopgap.

Now you that work experience, non-contracted and born of a distortion aimed at lowering the cost of labor, would like it to count for starting a new collaboration, or in competition. Legally your claims make no sense, just think that only those under 30 years old were allowed to participate in that competition, but we are not interested in that point.

Think for a moment if the Ministry agreed with you, if Civil Service was suddenly worth several points in competitions. What would happen? It would happen, much more than now, the race for Civil Service, which would suddenly become an increasingly coveted position (433 euros a month for 30 hours a week); this would cause average salaries in the sector to plummet even more, by a simple law of economics; not only that, Museums, Libraries, Archives, would have less and less need to hire, since they could count on overqualified young people every year. Who would need all this?

Do you want a new Pompeii case, in which the law was forced to hire, in defiance of the Constitution, 17 people on the basis of the most Italic patronage? Why?

You made the mistake of thinking that your professionalism was worth 433 euros a month, we did it too. Now why ask to get hired by virtue of those 12 months underpaid, and not by virtue of your qualifications, your skills, in a competition open to all and necessary?

On October 6, we will take to the streets for the Manifestation for Culture and Labor: we will demand radical reform of the laws, more hiring, more rights for all, more investment. So we will demand that young recent graduates can work with appropriate contracts, and that these contracts can be renewed. There is work for everyone in our sector, but there is a need for different policy choices.

There is no need to ask for extra scores, or ad personam collaborations. You don’t need to build your career on legislative distortions, as the 17 of Pompeii did and as the hiring boom generation before us did. You can build your career in a fair and equitable system where Culture receives the investment it needs and employment contracts are there for everyone and everyone, without young professionals being forced to pass themselves off as volunteers in order to work.

We have been divided for decades into those who can and those who cannot, those who are better and those who are worse, those who sacrifice and those who do not. Let’s stop making the mistakes of those who came before us. We made different choices, we have different stories, but we are all in the same boat. Let’s stick together, to find common solutions.

Let us not legitimize the follies the system has created to take away our rights, dignity and wages. Let us not give arguments to our tormentors. Let’s build a better system, and we will finally be able to work for our Heritage, respecting and valuing our professions.

No to Civil Service competitive recognition, a stopgap to fill gaps. Mi Riconosci's letter

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