A day of silence in defense of the rights of information workers, whose contract expired in 2016
Genoa – Today Shipmag will not update its news bulletin for the entire day, joining the national journalists’ strike. A strike in defense of rights and salaries, to prevent journalists from being blackmailable. Yesterday, the Federazione della Stampa organized a rally in Piazza Santi Apostoli in Rome, where union representatives at all levels and members of the category’s bodies spoke. The mobilization was decided to urge the renewal of the employment contract that expired in 2016. The union demands the recognition, including economic, of the role that journalism plays in the democratic system, and for this reason, tomorrow it will be in the squares of the main Italian cities.
“It has been twenty years since journalists last protested – emphasized the secretary of the Fnsi, Alessandra Costante – We want to maintain the rights that the publishers want to take away from us and the defense of salaries that have lost 20% of their purchasing power due to inflation. We are striking for the entire category, bringing together employees and collaborators. We are facing major technological challenges. Not wanting to regulate artificial intelligence in the contract means wanting to use it to replace journalists.”
And further: “It is a unified negotiation. We all want there to be no blackmailable journalists, but that they can exercise their democratic control. The Federation has already said it will stand by colleagues to guarantee their right to strike.” The secretary then explained that “some results have already been achieved, such as the convening by the Department for Publishing of the table on fair compensation, which publishers were running away from.”
Also in the square was the president of the Ordine dei Giornalisti, Carlo Bartoli. “There is one word that unites all journalists, employees and collaborators, and that is the word dignity. If dignity is not restored, we are lost. There are signals from this square and from many newsrooms that tell us that colleagues are ready to take back their rights. There are publishers who keep players who cost 20 million on the bench, publishers who attempt a takeover of Generali, publishers who own clinics funded by the State. And yet, despite public funding, no money can be found for a contract renewal.”
Photo from the Rai3 press review
