Today, just one week after the CESI@noon event on teachers’ shortages and the abusive use of temporary work contracts in schools, the European Commission has decided to bring Italy to the EU Court in that matter.

Since 2014 the European Commission has launched several infringement procedures against Italy calling on the Italian authorities to take action against the discriminative and abusive use of fixed-term contracts with teachers.

The European Commission finds that Italy’s laws regarding the pay of fixed-term teachers in public schools are discriminatory because they do not allow for salary progressions based on the crediting of employment periods, unlike the system for permanent teachers.

Additionally, according to the Commission, Italy has not effectively banned the abusive use of successive fixed-term contracts for administrative, technical, and auxiliary staff in state schools. The case has therefore been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

This decision also opens further possibilities to outlaw these practices and ask for compensations in case of abuses and discrimination – in other parts of the Italian public sector, in other sectors, and not least in other countries.

ANIEF, a member of CESI, which represents the Italian teachers, has been fighting for more than 10 years to address injustices and has won numerous legal cases in Italy and Luxembourg.

Marcello Pacifico, President of the CESI Europe Academy and ANIEF, has been one of the main drivers in the fight against poor working conditions in Italy’s education sector. He said: ‘In the last 8 months alone, we have achieved compensation payments of €9.6 million to discriminated teachers for these unlawful practices. We will not stop until all teachers receive the fair treatment they deserve. It is unlawful to act as if it is not deserved when doing a good deed by addressing these wrongs.’

CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger welcomed the European Commission decision and said: “Teachers are the cornerstone of our educational systems, yet too often they are not treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. This new case court against Italy is a further step to ban discriminatory practices, poor working conditions and precariousness of our educators, the backbones of our future.”