The permanent job in Northern Italy? No thank you. Thousands of teachers are giving up on being hired in some cities due to the high cost of living, as reported by the independent union Anief (national association of teachers and trainers). Accepting a professorship in the North for a teacher could mean earning 1,450-1,480 euros a month, but spending 500-700, or even a thousand, in monthly rent alone. In this scenario, it may therefore be more convenient to work as substitute teachers, but close to home, so as not to incur excessive costs. All this while the new school year has resumed with more than two hundred thousand substitutes to be hired.
The data on the teachers who said “no” to the assignment speaks clearly:
- 300 teachers resigned in Tuscany out of two thousand tenures;
- in Friuli Venezia Giulia there are 383 empty places out of 1,097 authorized;
- 562 appointed in Liguria out of 1,407 appointments;
- then there are thousands of chairs discovered in Lombardy, especially in primary schools.
Requests for off-site workers
The Anief union underlines that this situation “would not have arisen if only allowances had been provided for off-site workers, as well as tax discounts on rent and transport. All provisions which, after what happened, become mandatory for us”, says Marcello Pacifico, Anief national president. The union is now asking for specific resources in the budget law to guarantee educational continuity and address the different cost of living that leads those who work in Italian schools to decide to renounce stabilization because they are far from home.
“The renunciations of permanent contracts – comments Pacifico – demonstrate that it is necessary to introduce a specific allowance for those who work away from home, as already happens in the private sector. The majority of teachers are commuters and come from the South. For the high rents we need the implementing rules of the housing plan and changes to allow the tax relief provided for those who work in the mountains, as well as tax exemptions for transport costs. As an independent union we asked for this at the table with Aran (agency for the negotiation representation of public administrations, ed.) for the contract renewal”.
The cost of rent
A teacher’s salary is quickly eroded by the cost of living in the North, especially rent. Although a lot depends on the area and the services that are nearby, in Milan on average a room in a shared apartment can cost 700 euros. For a studio apartment you can reach 780-one thousand euros. Similar figures also in Florence. Even in Rome the prices are on the same line: a room can cost around 700 euros, while for a studio apartment it can reach up to a thousand euros.
For many teachers from the South, the calculations often lead to the decision to remain on temporary contracts, but close to home, because this scenario is economically more sustainable than becoming tenured in the North.
There are many proposals and requests to resolve the situation. The Cnddu (national coordination of teachers for human rights) has proposed, for example, a monthly contribution of up to 200 euros for off-site teachers and commuters, to also allow teachers to cover the high cost of fuel. The goal is to help cover, at least in part, the costs of petrol, highways and public transport.