Greater than 100 employees protested on the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence on Sunday (4 January) after non permanent workers on the museum had been successfully laid off.
Carrying placards, flags and flares, demonstrators gathered in Piazzale degli Uffizi—the museum’s lengthy inner courtyard—behind a big banner studying “No extra precarious lives”.
“New 12 months’s decision: proceed working along with the employees of the Uffizi Galleries,” the commerce union Sudd Cobas, which organised the protest, wrote on Instagram. “What’s at stake is a unique thought of labor, of the town, of tradition.”
The dispute centres on the destiny of informal employees following a change in service suppliers on the museum. In September final 12 months, Opera Laboratori Fiorentini—the corporate that had managed ticketing, surveillance and hospitality companies on the Uffizi since 2006—was changed by competitor CoopCulture. Whereas staff on everlasting contracts retained their positions, some non permanent employees assigned to safety, reception, ticketing, the bookshop and the cloakroom weren’t rehired.
In response to Sudd Cobas, former staff who had been on nine-month seasonal contracts have been changed by new workers employed on extra versatile, on-call contracts. The union says a few of these affected had labored on the Uffizi on non permanent contracts for greater than a decade. Staff at different Florence museums now served by CoopCulture—together with the regional directorate of museums of Tuscany and the artwork restoration establishment Opificio delle pietre dure—have additionally been affected.
“Florence’s tourism financial system can’t proceed to depend on low-paid and precarious work,” the union mentioned in a press release. “It’s time that each one non permanent employees are given everlasting contracts.”
In a written assertion, CoopCulture advised The Artwork Newspaper it had up to date employment preparations “in full compliance with the provisions of the tender discover, which included an inventory of employees for whom continuity of employment needed to be assured”. The corporate added that employees on fixed-term contracts with the earlier concessionaire “weren’t included within the process and are subsequently not linked to the brand new concession”.
A delegation of union representatives and employees is predicted to satisfy with Dario Danti, Florence’s deputy mayor for labour, within the coming days. The union has additionally appealed to the Tuscany regional authorities for help and known as on Simone Verde, the director of the Uffizi Galleries, to take a “robust stance” on the problem.
Responding to The Artwork Newspaper, an Uffizi spokesperson mentioned that as a state-run establishment, the museum can’t straight make use of workers and should depend on tradition ministry tenders. “For seasonal or non permanent employees not retained by the brand new concessionaire, the museum can solely exert ethical suasion,” he mentioned.
The spokesperson added that Verde “has at all times been dedicated on the negotiating desk to making sure that as many individuals as doable preserve their jobs”.
Rosanna Carrieri, the president of the culture-sector employees’ affiliation MiRiconosci, advised The Artwork Newspaper that non permanent workers had “turn into pillars of the Uffizi.” She added: “There can’t be A-, B- or C-grade employees in Italian public museums—least of all on the Uffizi, which has successfully turn into a ticket-selling, revenue-generating machine.”
The Uffizi Galleries, which embody three fundamental establishments—the Gallerie degli Uffizi, the Palazzo Pitti and the Giardano di Boboli—obtained greater than 5 million guests in 2024, and primarily based on its most up-to-date reviews, generate roughly €60m in annual income.
