The final rush took one day longer than expected, but in the end the signing of the pre-agreement of the 2019/2021 contract for the 430 thousand employees of Regions and local authorities has arrived. The first consequence is that now the text can embark for checks in the Court of Auditors and in the Council of Ministers with the hope of reaching the definitive go-ahead in time for the year-end paychecks. For the increases in the table, they range from € 56.1 gross per month envisaged for the lowest hierarchical step to 102.5 indicated for the highest one. The average monthly increase also counting the resources for regulations and ancillary salaries, according to the public function, is 117.53 euros.
On the basis of these numbers it is possible to estimate the arrears: a one-off between just over 1,500 euros and just under 2,800 euros gross, depending on the position of the individual employee. “The revolution of public work is in full swing,” comments the minister for PA Renato Brunetta thanking the president Aran Antonio Naddeo for the result. “An act of justice towards municipal employees”, relaunches the president Anci Antonio Decaro.
The last days of the negotiations between Aran and the unions have been complicated by a series of issues that undoubtedly have a considerable practical importance, but on the whole small audience within the most articulated sector of the entire public administration. The latest effort has faced an issue that for 20 years has committed labor disputes in local authorities, that is, the recognition of the holiday to staff who already receive the shift allowance in cases where the shift falls on a day marked in red on the calendar.
The penultimate obstacle, on which the negotiation risked in an at least apparently serious way to jump towards a postponement in the autumn that would have postponed the arrival of increases and arrears to next year, was represented by the organization of the educational staff of municipal schools . There, over time, a contradiction had matured between the regulatory evolution that requires a degree and the rules on the classification that lead employees to enter category C, the one for which a diploma is needed. With the new contract, the entrances will be in the “Officials and highly qualified” area, the new name of the current category D, and there will be a temporary preferential lane for ascent (with selective procedures) in the higher area before the management for those who are now in category C (subject to exhaustion).
After all, as also happened in local authorities, for all staff there will be a transitional period, until the end of 2025, in which it will be possible to level up even without having the qualification required for the arrival area.