School, the ministry’s announcement: “We will pay the salaries of all temporary workers by January 11th”

“By January 2024 we will formulate a proposal for a definitive resolution” on the payment of short school substitutes”, he said Jacopo GrecoHead of the Department for Human, Financial and Instrumental Resources of the Ministry of Education and Merit, specifying that “since 2013, the salaries of temporary teachers holding short-term substitute contracts have been paid late every year between January and March”.

The teacher on short-term substitute work without pay for three months: “I asked my mother for loans and I don’t have money for petrol until school, but teaching can’t be an elite job”

by Viola Giannoli

December 20, 2023

The delays, it is explained, “accumulate for the September-December working period, due to specific bureaucratic problems involving multiple ministries and various institutions. Despite this, around 55 thousand temporary workers were paid in December 2023. We have also agreed with the Mef “, adds Greco, “an extraordinary assignment that will take place on January 11th, with which the 15 thousand remaining payments will be made in addition to the still unpaid December monthly payments”.

The note concludes by recalling that “at the strong impetus of the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, the Ministry is working in agreement with the Mef and NoiPa to definitively resolve the problems connected to the payment system”.

Protests from the Teachers’ Guild: “The situation of many temporary teachers hired in September 2023 who have not received any salary is dramatic. Four months of free work which is causing serious inconvenience to teachers who, like every worker, have to face monthly expenses such as rent, groceries, petrol, bills”, explains Rino Di Meglio, national coordinator of the Teachers’ Guild.

“We continue to receive reports of substitute teachers who, despite having worked for four months, have not received their salary. It is the new year and for us this is an indecent practice because the first right of any worker is to receive remuneration for the work done, instead they are put in the position of not being able to carry out the normal life of any working person”, he comments, also turning to the government for immediate intervention.

“We would like a clear word on this problem”, concludes Di Meglio, “from Minister Valditara, who was committed to de-bureaucratizing the school administration, despite being aware that it is not a new thing but rather a long-standing issue. This situation makes Italy unique throughout Europe, no European country pays public employees months late.”