A beautiful and rich Christmas gift awaits the school staff. With the renewal of the national contract for the sector, signed by the new Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara and by the trade unions of Cgil, Cisl, Uil, Snals, Gilda and Anief, not only the increases are arriving starting from January 2023, but also the arrears of the three-year period 2019-2021.
Back payments that will help teachers and administrative, technical and janitor staff to cope with the cost of living.
In the province, this increase will affect 3,362 people: 2,404 teachers and 958 administrative, technical and school collaborators, i.e. the figures who make up the so-called ATA staff. The average gross increase for teachers will be 100 euros, for ATA staff it is 80 euros, always gross.
The arrears
Beyond the increase in individual salaries, an important weight will have the payment of all arrears (from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021) which will be paid by 20 December and in any case, as the new minister has undertaken, before the Christmas holidays.
On average, teachers will have a nice Christmas gift: from 2,220 euros in arrears for those who teach childhood and have just been hired, to 3,700 euros for those who work in high schools and are close to retirement. ATA employees, on the other hand, will find between 1,701 and 2,543 euros in their pay packet.
The arrears will also go to substitute teachers, naturally in relation to the months they worked and also to ATA teachers and staff who retired by the end of 2021.
Discovered needs
For the CISL Scuola, it is a contract that does not cover all the needs of the sector, but it is a starting point for thinking about other renewals. «There will actually be three contractual sequences», explains Lorella Benvegnù, secretary of the CISL Scuola Belluno Treviso.
«The first and second are of an economic nature, the third is juridical», says Benvegnù. «In the first, the one that will be paid by December of this year, 95% of the available resources will be distributed, resources that have already been set aside by the Budget from 2019 to 2021. The 100 euro gross average increase for teachers represents, precisely the first tranche”.
“Then there is the second step with the liquidation of the remaining 5%: on this negotiation will begin to understand what the government will make available in the 2023 budget”.
Benvegnù underlines that «the signing of this new contract took place only now because the resources of the 2022 Budget were lacking, that is 300 million euros destined for the enhancement of the teaching staff. Sure, the increases are modest compared to the rise in inflation, but for the first time, arrears are being paid. It’s a good starting point.”