Two hundred and fifty social entrepreneurs who came from all over Sardinia yesterday participated in the general states of social cooperation adhering to Confcooperative-Federsolidarietà Sardinia together with representatives of banks, banking foundations, the Church, the Regional Council and Anci. Massive response to the invitation from the heads of national and island Federsolidarietà for the event which was held in Cagliari and was coordinated by the general manager of Confcooperative Sardinia, Gilberto Marras. It could be an authentic watershed for the entire Sardinian cooperative sector. The national president of Federsolidarietà, Stefano Granata, has spurred everyone to no longer look only at public contributions: we need to capitalize on businesses, think differently, innovate. But for politics, who was largely absent yesterday (the only exception was that of the regional councilor for Labour, There is Laiwhile the regional councilor for health and social policies, Charles Doria, half an hour before his speech he sent a message, announcing “urgent institutional commitments” which “forced” him once again to desert the confrontation with the social partners). «Dialogue is fine, but we need to take this into account», commented Granata in front of an attentive and determined audience to change course to overcome the economic crisis.
We have therefore reached the proverbial crossroads. And President Granata, as a good pragmatic Milanese, made it clear that one is going to hit a wall if better and alternative solutions to those adopted so far are not found. “It is important to become aware of the role that social cooperation plays today”, he said. «This region, in order not to remain isolated, must connect with the rest of the world. Social cooperation must play a leading role in its own transactions, such as digital and environmental, to give a real social structure to this area. But it must move with a certain independence, because unfortunately there is still no political foresight. We need to change posture, gain respect, and know that the only resource can’t come only from the public. The social cooperative must be more of a business, it must know how to aggregate resources, invest and create wealth within the opportunities that exist. An evolutionary leap is needed. After these States General, our associates will come out with a new awareness and perhaps with a greater load of responsibility. But I think this is for have a different attitude towards the political decision-maker. On tariffs for accredited cooperatives, there is little that can be done: decisions are up to regional policy. However, it is up to us to take firm positions. We no longer want to be told “you are the backbone” or “you are the resilient”: let alone resilience. We need to provide quality services to citizens, and to do this we need resources. Which, moreover, are not lacking in Sardinia: they are badly placed and foresee very long times. It is no longer tolerable to see impoverished social workers».
Then a rebuke to local politics, the great absentee: «I have to note the strategic absence of some regional councilors that we would have liked to hear. We must draw the consequences, politics must be reminded of its duties. It cannot escape the comparison. We want to be collaborative and contribute together to the reprogramming. If the intention of Sardinian politicians is to use us as mere suppliers of manpower, we must start thinking about actions to be carried out with a hard face and make ourselves respected».
“We call everyone to greater responsibility, we need to change with respect to a situation that is serious today and which tends to get worse”, he said instead Antonello Pilipresident of Federsolidarietà Sardegna, which counts 300 member cooperatives out of the 700 operating on the island. «The demographic winter in this region wipes out a municipality of 15,000 inhabitants every year and there is no policy to manage migratory flows or to provide services against depopulation: last year about 20,000 people died and just 7,000 were born. If we add the two thousand Sardinians who leave the island every year to look for work elsewhere, the negative balance is frightening. Where are the policies for children, for parenting, for the elderly? In Sardinia we have an aging rate of 241%: where do we want to go? We risk no longer having the workforce for strategic sectors such as the tertiary sector and agriculture. We want to build a new system of cooperation and welfare together with all the institutional actors (politics, credit institutions, the Church through the social pastoral care of work). Social cooperative enterprises today are forced to fight against an asphyxiating bureaucracy that does not stipulate and relaunch the agreements that allow social cooperatives to provide services to fragile citizens, due to health conditions, economic poverty and educational poverty. The deafening absence of an operational plan is evident, on which we have been given the opportunity to make a concrete contribution of analyzes and proposals, to guarantee social-health, social-welfare and socio-educational services in the communities. Our world, however, must increase its managerial, managerial and business management skills. Because it is true that in our hearts we want to help the most fragile, but we are always businesses. We need to have more impact where the rules of the game and people’s lives are decided. The search for dialogue has always distinguished us. Many decision-makers were missing today, but we will continue to favor concertation. If we are forced, however, we will not disdain forms of protest in the appropriate forums, even with demonstrations in the square. We claim for Sardinia the primacy of politics over administrative bureaucracy”.
“Today more than ever we need a welfare system that is able to regenerate the available resources and spend them all well, because not using the funds means decreasing”, said councilor Lai. «In its latest notice, the Department of Labor has increased resources in favor of the world of cooperatives, not only because we believe in their ability to be interpreters of change, but above all for their contribution to employment and the provision of services. After the pandemic, the economy has changed and working methods have changed, which has become more agile. And it is time for the public administration to change as well, to be ever more at the service of citizens and businesses. It is necessary to simplify the procedures and speed up the bureaucratic fulfillments. Change and simplification are already underway, but they have yet to bear fruit. To promote employment, we must put the Municipalities at the center and co-design the tenders with thembecause they are the institution that has the most direct contact with citizens and knows the real needs of the territory, but above all continue to invest massively in professional training aimed at market demands, because only skills can guarantee work”.
The national president of Confcooperative also participated in videoconference, Maurice Gardiniengaged in the areas of Emilia Romagna overwhelmed by the flood and to represent the Confcooperative projects to relaunch those communities with the Government, which met yesterday in the Council of Ministers.