The Holy See is facing a class-action lawsuit against 49 Vatican employees. Vatican Museums supervisors, restaurateurs and bookstore employees have now written a letter to the Vatican demanding better working conditions. The Milanese daily ‘Corriere della Sera’ reported this on Sunday.
If they don’t get an answer, they threatened to file a class-action lawsuit, the newspaper continued. The workers complained that overtime in the Vatican was very poorly paid. Moreover, there are no support measures in case of unemployment or times of crisis such as during the corona pandemic. They turned to respected attorney Laura Sgro to amplify their concerns.
No air conditioning, not enough gendarmes…
The employees, all Romans, stated, among other things, that “between 25,000 and 30,000 people pass through the Vatican Museums every day, although the maximum number of visitors is 24,000 per day.” They further complained that the rooms in the Vatican Museums do not have air conditioning and complained about a small number of gendarmes, which causes problems for the guards, who are sometimes attacked by harassing visitors.
“The Pope talks about rights, but we are seen as mere commodities,” the employees complained. There was initially no response to the complaints from the management of the Vatican Museums.
Of the approximately 4,800 employees, more than half work for the Holy See, i.e. in the authorities, media or embassies of the world church administration. The others are employees of the 44-hectare Vatican City: gardeners, supermarket or post office staff, museum guards and cleaners.
36 hours a week, no income tax
A full-time working week at the Vatican is 36 hours. Every two years there is a seniority bonus and an inflation adjustment – if the Pope does not freeze this due to the corona pandemic, as was the case in 2021. The deduction for old-age and health insurance is approximately ten percent of the gross salary. No income tax is levied.
Source: Krone
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