Ales does not renew workers' contracts: will museums be closed after Jan. 15?

Culture’s already black Christmas, closed and on the fringes of political debate, is enriched with a worrying new chapter. Ales spa, the instrumental company of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, 100% owned by the same, in a series of private emails sent between December 14 and 18 informed its employees that all contracts expiring on December 31, 2020 that had to do with services to the public of museums and places of culture will not be renewed, as a result of “what was established by the DPCM December 3, 2020” that suspends the exhibitions and services of opening to the public of these places.

We are talking about at least a hundred workers distributed in different Italian regions, but for the largest number between Tuscany, Lazio and Campania. Some had been hired for a few months, others for years and were awaiting the transformation of their contracts into permanent ones. The backlash follows an initial freeze on contract renewals that had affected ALES employees in March, but with a profound difference: in March the company had pledged to hire workers again once the emergency was over; now nothing of the sort. “Unlike in March, we have not even received a letterhead document, but only an email, unsigned, sent by the administration,” explains a worker who asked to remain anonymous. “They are promising all workers that they will be hired when the museums reopen, but in the absence of any written commitment, what is this oral promise worth?” The text of the email was made public on December 22 on the association’s facebook page Mi Riconosci?, while already on December 15 Senator Virginia La Mura (M5S) had submitted a parliamentary question to the ministers of Cultural Heritage and Labor. The number of workers involved is unclear: between Pompeii, Colosseum and Uffizi alone there are more than 60 people who will stay at home, but dozens of other institutions throughout Italy are involved. From Ales spa so far no comment on the matter.

Mail received from one of the Ales workers

Mail received from one of the Ales workers

No comment either from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, which also appears to have direct responsibility for the incident. In fact, onMarch 11, as reported by Senator Margherita Corrado, MiBACT’s director general budget asked all peripheral offices and autonomous museums to verify where it was possible to suspend contracts with Ales, and, therefore, in the absence of a contract, not to renew work assignments. This Christmas measure appears to be in direct continuity with that policy. But it poses an additional problem: the state that unilaterally decides to close museums allows one of its instrumental companies, precisely on the basis of that closure, to leave hundreds of people at home without jobs and, in many cases, without cushions. And while ministerial communications are in this area null and void, we have to imagine that there will be no reopening of the museums on January 15, when the current DPCM expires: it would otherwise be inexplicable for Ales to choose not to renew the countervailing for only 15 more days of closure. One must therefore imagine that, while the press and the citizenry are not informed, the protracted indefinite closure of cultural venues is already an established reality in ministerial corridors and as such communicated to Ales management.

Needless to say, finally, such a measure, in addition to being highly unethical, also denounces a profound misunderstanding of museum work: at a time when museums and the enjoyment of them need to be rethought, how can one think of doing so and reopening them safely if the already understaffed staff is radically reduced in the months of closure?

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