Vatican Museum employees threaten class action: 'mala gestio and poor security'

Class action laws uit in sight for 49 employees of the Vatican Museums, who have turned to lawyer Laura Sgrò, foreseeing a legal battle in court for the institution if the working conditions to which the workers must now submit are not changed. They are 47 hall supervisors, a restorer and a bookshop worker, who have enlisted the services of Sgrò to address a petition to Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State (the body on which museum employees also depend), as Corriere della Sera reports today.

“Most Reverend Eminence,” the petition reads, “the working conditions harm the dignity and health of each worker. The mala gestio is evident, which would be even more serious if it were the result of the sole logic of obtaining greater earnings.” The other side now has 30 days to respond in order to reach a conciliation. Should the two parties fail to reach an agreement, the gates of the court will open. The employees, all Italians and residents of Rome, complain about the absence of some basic rules that usually govern labor relations: for example, in case of illness there are no time slots for tax visits, with the result that the employee is forced to stay at home for the entire day (“when a worker is on sick leave,” the petition reads, “the latter turns into a real obligation to stay home”, and employees also recall that “remaining at the employer’s disposal beyond hours is a violation of the dignity of personal freedom”), and even cases of employees sanctioned while at the doctor’s office would be recorded. Other problems would concern overtime work, which would be paid less than ordinary work (“After six hours spent standing, one has to continue his work while receiving less pay. And the employer abuses this tool”). Employees also complain about the absence of criteria for assigning levels and classes of merit linked to seniority (“They are the absolute patrimony of the head manager who uses them as he pleases. Absolute discrimination reigns, a perpetual state of chaos.”)

Still, according to the workers, in the evaluation of employees it seems that “negatively influences the circumstance that the worker assists one’s own family member suffering from a serious and established infirmity,” so much so that in their opinion “Those who take care of their sick family members are penalized.” In addition, social safety nets would also be lacking: “In the Vatican there is no layoff fund, there are no income support measures in case of crisis or phases of total unemployment.” This absence was felt especially during the pandemic, and even in October 2021 the Vatican’s Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage allegedly issued a “debt of hours notice” for employees who remained at home during the pandemic due to force majeure: to repay the negative amount of hours that employees, obviously through no fault of their own, accumulated, there would be deductions from their paychecks.

Finally, the employees also point to problems related to workplace safety. The workers in their petition point out that they are not given “health, biological and physical risk allowance” despite “direct contact with thousands of people a day,” and it is even noted that the Vatican Museums would let in more people than they should: according to the employees between 25 thousand and 30 thousand people a day, despite a cap of 24 thousand. What’s more, there would be only two accessible security exits, non-air-conditioned rooms that in summer run the risk of causing illness to the most fragile visitors (with first aid in charge of the custodians) and undermine the preservation of the works, only one gendarme at the entrance (with the result that sometimes the custodians, employees point out, have been attacked by harassing visitors), metal detectors for which “protocols are not followed.” The employees let the Courier know that they approached lawyer Sgrò after trying several times to reach agreements. “The Pope,” they conclude, “speaks of rights, we are considered mere merchandise.”

Vatican Museum employees threaten class action: 'mala gestio and poor security'

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