Sunday, August 17, 2008

Italy Institutes Labor Reforms Aimed at "Fannulloni" (Idlers)

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Italy historically has had a high degree of "patronage" jobs, used by all parties to reward followers.

In July a decree substantially increased state institutions' power to transfer, discipline and dismiss employees, as well as drastically increasing medical checks and pay cuts on employees absent for illness.

The Reforms put into place, draconian by Italian standards, weed out the fannulloni , roughly translatable as "idlers", from among Italy's 3.65m state employees.

New Labour Laws Improve Health of Italy's State Workers

Financial Times- UK                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     By Paul Bompard in Rome                                                                                                                                                                                                                     August 16 2008

When Italy's state railways sacked eight employees this week after it emerged that a ninth man was showing up for work and clocking in on their behalf, it was something of a revolution.

Also recently, an employee of the Chamber of Deputies was fired after an unjustified absence from work of several months. Such sackings would be seen as normal in most countries.

But in Italy, dismissal of any employee, let alone a state employee, has until now been virtually impossible and employment has meant a job for life. The sackings are the result of new labour laws just introduced by the centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon.

The man directly responsible is Renato Brunetta, professor of labour economics at Rome's Tor Vergata University and now minister for public administration and innovation.

In June Mr Brunetta launched a campaign, draconian by Italian standards, to weed out the fannulloni , roughly translatable as "idlers", from among Italy's 3.65m state employees.

In July a decree substantially increased state institutions' power to transfer, discipline and dismiss employees, as well as drastically increasing medical checks and pay cuts on employees absent for illness.

In early August, a beaming Mr Brunetta announced a drop of 37 per cent in sick leave among state employees in July, compared with a year earlier. This figure has been challenged, but even if optimistic, reflects what has been called the "Brunetta effect" on state employees.

"What is happening now is simply the application of new rules," said the minister's spokesman. "Our purpose is to bring absences among state employees to the same level as in the private sector. There is no logical reason for public employees to be less healthy. The minister has now made the reforms, and he does not intend to comment on how they are applied."

Until now, sick leave among state employees has been double that in the private sector.

Only time will tell if the "Brunetta revolution" will have lasting and wide-ranging positive effects on the notoriously costly inefficiency of Italy's public services and bureaucracy. So far there has been no outcry from the main unions.

"As an initial signal the Brunetta campaign is positive and very important," said Professor Umberto Bertele, president of Milan Polytechnic's school of business administration. "It reflects a widespread desire among Italians for a more efficient civil service.

"But the next stage, the real revolution, will have to be not just making civil servants work, but rethinking the structure of public administration as a whole, in terms of the number of employees, their qualifications and their deployment where they are needed.

"A major problem is that many were hired through political patronage, to give them a job, rather than in response to the need for services."

He expressed hope the new government, with its strong parliamentary majority, would have the energy to carry these reforms through.

"One obstacle will be that many of the state employees who will feel penalised by reforms necessary for the good of the country have strong links and patronage in local and national political circles, of both the right and the left."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/87e0fe0a-6b2b-11dd-b613-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1

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