For Venice a request of 20 million a year for local public transport
All in all it was a positive meeting, that of the institutional table on local public transport in Venice, convened today by the prefect Vittorio Zappalorto after pressure from the trade unions who had been asking for it for months. The Fit-Cisl secretary of Veneto Marino De Terlizzi and the secretary of the Filt-Cgil of Venice Valter Novembrini, today present at the meeting, explain this to ‘Dire’. “The Municipality confirms the gravity and heaviness of the company’s accounts (Actv, ed), with 19 million loss for the year 70 million loss of revenues based on projections as at 10 December, therefore with no room for improvement”, says De Terlizzi. But he also “proposed an amendment to the national stability law, asking for an allocation of 20 million euros per year until 2026 for local public transport in Venice”, announcing the trade unionist, explaining that the prefect’s request to the unions was to support the amendment nationwide.
“We must work together as a team so that, through our national confederations which have a dialogue with the government, we can pass the amendment”, confirms De Terlizzi. “We will commit ourselves to an action that convinces Parliament to approve it,” says Novembrini, thus ensuring that the CGIL will do its part. “Of course, the amendment is one thing and the institutional table is another. The two things together could solve the problem, the important thing is that the resources arrive”, he then adds, clarifying that the request will not stop at the expected 20 million. from the amendment. Also because, explains De Terlizzi, they would probably not be enough. A request made during the table was in fact addressed to the Region, which according to the unions should do its part by financing at least the ferry boat races. “They are a link of continuity”, highlights De Terlizzi.
If the Region allocated the eight million a year necessary to cover the cost of the service, even counting the amendment would reach a total of 28 million. And given that “the structural imbalance of the automotive service is 17 million, there would be nine million left to implement the services”. Better than nothing, says De Terlizzi. Too bad that today “the Department of Transport of the Region did not participate in the table and the Region has instead sent technicians from the Department of Labor, which obviously could not say anything about the resources”, complains Novembrini. At least the prefect Zappalorto “said he will take an active part with the Region”, reports De Terlizzi. In addition to the substantial absence of the Region, “another negative aspect is that the municipal councilor for the budget Michele Zuin stated that in 2022 he will maintain the ‘Zappalorto norm’ for the Municipality (and therefore the transfer of 10 million euros collected with the ticketing to the Municipality, ed). It is a choice that cannot be shared and takes away from the request for resources from the Government and the Region “, explains Novembrini.
“We find it wrong, I hope that the commitment of all institutions can be found starting from 2022”. Finally, prefect Zappalorto undertook to reconvene the institutional round table, also in the presence of the representative of the Ministry of Transport and, indeed, of the regional councilor. “The institutional table must continue and I also add with the involvement of the confederations, because they represent the interest of society. Here we represent the interest of the workers. And since they require the intervention of the Region, the trade unions must also be involved regional confederal “, concludes De Terlizzi. A game apart is the company table on the dispute, which took place this afternoon in an attempt to find an agreement between the parties after the unilateral cancellation of the second-level agreements by the company.