Turin, culture cuts decided by city hall cause 28 layoffs

There is no peace for culture in Turin: after the Gam Library affair(here is our editorial), the cuts to culture inflicted by the City Council led by the Appendino junta will result in 28 layoffs announced yesterday by the director of the Fondazione Torino Musei, Cristian Valsecchi, who met with union representatives. Twenty-eight redundancies including thirteen at the Borgo Medievale (which will return to city management from January), six at the Gam Library, six at the Gam Photo Library, and three at the Museo Diffuso della Resistenza. Another five workers will instead return to City Hall. Protest garrisons have already been announced in front of Palazzo di Città, headquarters of the City of Turin.

The Torino Musei Foundation has suffered cuts to the equivalent of 20 percent of its resources: that’s 5 million 450,000 euros the foundation has to do without. Added to this is the loss of income due to the drop in ticket sales, which have fallen by 20 percent this year, given also the lack of major exhibitions in Turin. The situation, according to the Foundation’s top management, can only lead to staff reductions.

At the moment, it is not yet known what the future of the twenty-eight redundant workers will be. In recent days, the city administration had spoken of outplacement, and the Appendino council returns to clarify that it is willing to engage in negotiations (discussions, however, have been going on for a long time). This is the text of the note issued by the City Hall after the meeting between Fondazione Torino Musei and the unions: “Following the meeting that took place this morning between the top management of Fondazione Torino Musei and the unions, the City wishes to reiterate what has been the position taken by the administration from the beginning in order to avoid actions that would negatively affect the workers of the Fondazione itself. To this end, the City requested the opening of a discussion table involving unions, top management of the Foundation and workers. The commitment that the City also made produced as its first result the reabsorption of former municipal employees. We believe that the choice of the Foundation’s top management to declare redundancy even before opening the discussion with the unions produces displacement effects with respect to the path mapped out to avoid solutions to the detriment of the workers. The City will continue to play its part, indicating paths and solutions to protect the Foundation, its employees and their professional assets. Councillor Francesca Leon will report back to the council as soon as possible.”

Image: the Medieval Village of Turin. Ph. Credit Angelo Malvasia

Turin, culture cuts decided by city hall cause 28 layoffs

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.