Labor rebellion in the Vatican

In its almost 100 years of existence, the Vatican City State has seen it all: murders, financial scandals and even an attack against a pope, John Paul II, but never something as common outside its walls as a labor protest. Reasons, however, are not lacking judging by the complaints recently made public by 49 employees of the Vatican Museums, the first to break the unwritten pact of silence that has worked until now in a territory where unions are not allowed. In a respectful letter addressed to Salamanca Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the Governatorate of Vatican City State (executive authority of the territory), the workers regret being treated as “merchandise” and demand substantial changes in their working conditions. If they do not find an answer, they threaten the courts. An unusual plan that has come to tarnish the image of the small territory in which Pope Francis reigns as absolute sovereign.

What has led these faithful servants of his holiness, all Catholics, as is required, Italians and residents of Rome, to pose such a challenge to the pontiff? Everything indicates that the trigger has been the decision of the State administrators to force them to reimburse the salaries received during the pandemic, when all cultural facilities remained closed. The employees (47 security guards, a restaurateur and a bookstore manager) also denounce the lack of criteria and transparency in promotions or seniority calculations, calling them “the absolute property of the boss,” and the anomaly that overtime “is “They pay less than ordinary ones.” Your initiative is serious. The letter, distributed by Corriere della Sera In May, it bears the seal of the famous lawyer Laura Sgrò, who reopened the case of the disappearance in 1983 of Emanuela Orlandi, daughter of a Holy See worker.

Among the reasons for their discontent, the workers mention the obligation, in case of illness, to be available for any inspection by the Vatican 24 hours a day, which, they say, is “a violation of the dignity of personal freedom.” In the same letter they also speak of the security problems of the Vatican Museums, which house priceless works of art and are visited daily by between 25,000 and 30,000 people. Despite this, they say that only two of the emergency exits work, many of the rooms lack air conditioning, police security is limited to one officer and metal detector work is not always rigorous.

Despite being a minority protest (700 people work in museums and 5,000 in the Papal State), the problems listed by the signatories of the letter are, they say, “common to many workers.” This is pointed out by the Association of Lay Employees of the Vatican, which, on its website, explains that it has been asking for months, “precisely to avoid media outcry, for a dialogue with those responsible for the Vatican Government, without having received any response.” The State’s labour relations are regulated by a regulation that has been periodically renewed since 1932 (the last one was approved in 2010). But the changes incorporated do not prevent the document from remaining far from European labour laws. It granted only one day of leave for the birth of a child (now extended to three) and maintains a certain control over the private lives of employees. And inappropriate behaviour, inside or outside of work, can be subject to sanction.

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