The confrontation between the Sicilian Region and Caronte&Tourist, holder of the contracted services (both ministerial and regional) for the smaller islands, reignites.
The shipping company, which except for the lot relating to the Pelagie Islands operates under extension regarding the routes subsidized by the Region, has long complained about the failure to update the agreements with the entity, which it claims would cause the economic imbalance of the routes. At the beginning of last week, the regional secretariats of Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl and Uiltrasporti requested a meeting with the regional departments for Transport and the Economy, outlining how the company had communicated its intention to pay only an advance on April salaries due to an unsettled credit of 7 million euros with the Region itself.
Shortly thereafter, the company informed the ticket offices that, “having noted the significant time that has now passed without the rebalancing procedure initiated in July of last year having reached a conclusion,” on all subsidized lines (with the exclusion of the Pelagie Islands) “the currently valid price list will be subject to a first generalized increase in the tariffs applied to passengers, ordinary vehicles and residents, as well as to commercial vehicles,” with variations “ranging between a minimum of 30% and a maximum of 50% compared to the tariffs currently applied.”
Two days later, the trade union organizations received a communication stating that, although “the credit with the Sicilian Region is being regularized,” since the problem of “updating the profitability of the existing concessions” has not been resolved, from June “the organizational corrections ordered with the letter of 31 October 2024 and subsequently suspended will be applied again, and in particular: the embarkation periods for those enrolled in the Special Shift will be two months interspersed with a disembarkation period, with settlement of all accrued entitlements, of one month. Any derogation from what is prescribed will be exceptional; stabilizations (placements in Crl /or Tp) will continue to remain blocked; shift rotations will be further revised with a view to productivity recoveries, to be carried out with due respect for national and supranational regulations on work safety.”
Faced with this scenario of tariff increases and salary cuts, the reaction has so far come from Federalberghi Isole Minori Sicilia and Confesercenti Sicilia. The former has “made a formal urgent appeal to the President of the Region Renato Schifani, to Councillor Alessandro Aricò and to Minister Matteo Salvini so that they take every necessary measure to prevent the increases from coming into force, by integrating the financial resources needed to guarantee the balance of the Agreement without burdening users. It is no longer tolerable that maritime connections, an essential public service, are managed through inadequate agreements that do not provide for compensation other than increasing tariffs or cutting services.”
The president of Confesercenti Sicilia, Vittorio Messina, spoke of an “extremely worrying decision,” “because it risks producing very serious effects on the economy of the smaller islands. Increasing the cost of connections so significantly means hitting families, workers, businesses and tourists. Italy continues to be the only European country without a specific framework law on smaller islands that structurally recognizes the conditions of permanent disadvantage linked to insularity and provides for tax breaks, compensatory measures and support tools for citizens and businesses.”
