Siena, controversy over contest: eighth grade is enough to work at museum

There is controversy over a competition announced by the Municipality of Siena, which is seeking twenty-six staff members for the Santa Maria della Scala museum complex: twenty for public assistance and security, three for museum education, one library staff member and two cleaning staff members. Management of the competition, which has a deadline of Jan. 20, is entrusted to the in-house SI.GE.RI.CO. spa, formerly Siena Parcheggi, now a multiservice company, which as of Feb. 10 will take over from the old concessionaire of Santa Maria della Scala and the civic museums of Siena, Opera Laboratori.

The twenty-six workers will be hired on a permanent part-time basis. For some of them it will involve handling tasks of some responsibility. In fact, the employees will have to provide, the competition states, “information of a historical/artistic, archaeological and monumental nature, including in foreign languages.” The educational officer will have to invce “deal with educational interventions, paths and educational workshops appropriate to different groups of users (schools of all levels, private individuals, families, adults),” while the library officer will have to “support the staff present in the Library of the Brigantes in the management of the library material kept there, (collection, cataloging, preservation, archiving and consultation).” The controversy stems from the fact that no ad hoc titles were required for these positions, but simply an eighth grade diploma. Obviously in the evaluation of titles, degrees will count more (albeit slightly: 9 points to the three-year degree and 10 to the three-year degree versus 6 for the eighth grade), but there were immediate protests on the web about the decision to open a competition for positions requiring years of specific studies to graduates with eighth grade.

The association Mi Riconosci, which advocates for the protection of cultural professionals, issued a number of statements: “It seems puzzling,” the activists let it be known, “that specific training is not required for these positions, given that there are professionals who have invested several years in their education, both university and through high-level professional courses.” According to Mi Riconosci, “the request for more specific requirements would perhaps have collided with the lavish compensation of the 5th level of the CCNL of Commerce, or about € 1,000 net per month for a full-time, which is almost halved in view of the part-time offered by the company. However, as pointed out in the notice, the latter ’reserves the application of any supplementary compensation/functional allowance’ at the contract stage. Candidates will therefore only have to hope for the mercy of the examining board, which, after sifting through hundreds of applications, will select them according to a curious and half-hidden third requirement: previous work experience at the Santa Maria della Scala Museum! Those who prove that they have worked at the complex will be awarded twice as many points as those who have worked at other sites.”

But there’s more: since November, which is when the change of manager of museum services was announced, former Opera Laboratori employees have been seeking internalization. “Wouldn’t it have been easier,” Mi Riconosci wonders, “to grant the requests of former Opera employees and internalize as many as possible? Perhaps not, given that the new company does not adopt the same level of bargaining (Opera’s workers are classified in level IV of the CCNL of Commerce) and everyone will inevitably have their seniority steps reduced to zero. The inadequacy of certain job offers, often made by companies that play cheaply on the skin of professionals, is unsettling, but it is even more so when it comes to a public institution, which should guarantee meritocracy criteria in the management of its cultural heritage.”

Pictured is the Santa Maria della Scala complex. Photo by Francesco Bini

Siena, controversy over contest: eighth grade is enough to work at museum

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