The waitress: “Hotel room prices are growing but wages are stuck in 2019”
Teresa Cofano, 42, from Naples, has been working as a chambermaid since 2011: “I only started when my children went to school,” she explains. You look at the minimum wage law with great interest: «I earn 8 euros an hour: the workers in our sector are among the least paid. I consider myself lucky because I’m not a seasonal worker, and I get to 1200-1300 euros a month. I am convinced that this job could give great satisfaction if it were paid in the right way, and if the workers were seen with different eyes». The tourism sector, Teresa recalls, “has a thousand forms of precariousness, and is a rainbow of shades of color, from black to grey”. And it is for this reason, he maintains, that in this moment of great boom in demand, managers are struggling to find workers: «Rooms that previously cost 100 euros now cost 300, but I still earn 8 euros an hour, despite the increases of prices and bills, and the two and a half years of not working due to the pandemic. If employers pay little, don’t respect contracts, make overtime work and don’t pay it, why should a young person choose this job?». Yet Teresa’s children both attended hotel management school, a choice that is a source of pride for her. But she does not hope that, once they graduate, they will remain in Italy: «Compared to when I started working, the situation has gotten much worse. And I’m not sending my daughter to work for 800 euros a month, after five years of studies and sacrifices. I prefer that he go away: my school mates who moved to the UK after graduating are now restaurant owners».
The vigilante: “We’ve hit rock bottom, let’s go hungry”
«I have been working as a vigilante for 17 years, and I earn 5.37 euros an hour. We waited 7 years for the new contract: now that it has been signed, the increase is 140 euros gross per year spread between now and 2026. It means 0.29 cents gross per hour from July, which in three years will reach 95 cents ». AD is 54 years old, has a dependent wife and two children. He lives in Rome, and asks not to publish his name. “We only manage to live because we live in a public house, and the rent is low. But zero social life, and I recommended a professional school to my son, with this salary it would be difficult to pay for university». AD works in shifts, but even the night increases are minimal, and the Sunday increase does not exist. “When I was young, I was a night porter. I earned well – he says – but I was exploited. After 20 straight nights I ended up in the hospital, and so I changed. But when I started as a vigilante the salaries weren’t that low. With the renewals over time we have lost between 200 and 250 euros per month». Who we hoped to recover even in part with the latest renewal, but nothing: «We protested, there were several strikes to get a decent contract. And instead you don’t even get to a one euro increase per hour: it seems absurd to me ».
Cleaner: “I work two jobs and I manage to bring home 700 euros”
“I didn’t decide. I would like to work 8 hours a day and have only one job. And instead I have a contract of 10 hours per week in the morning and 17 per week in the afternoon to bring home half a salary». Stefania Calcagnolo, 48, works for two Turin cleaning companies, in the morning for a private individual and in the afternoon with an external cooperative that deals with INPS. “They are my two involuntary part-timers,” she jokes. But it’s a bitter smile. «Put the two jobs together, I earn 700 euros». Stefania gets up at 5 and the first job lasts from 6.30 to 8.30. The second runs from 1.30pm to 5pm. «They tell me: do you have a third job? It’s complicated in the morning because I travel by bus, I can’t afford a car. For a while I also worked in the evening but then I couldn’t do it anymore». How much does she earn per hour? «7.5 euros gross per hour. But I’m lucky. Some colleagues earn less». With each change of contract something is lost and the salary goes down. What would change with a minimum wage? “It could be a help, but it is essential that there be a national contract that guarantees some security, otherwise it risks becoming an even worse jungle than it is now”.