Brussels to Rome: stop discriminating against foreign lecturers

A long-running campaign by foreign university staff in Italy to gain equal pay and conditions to their local counterparts has been given an unexpected boost after the European Commission ordered an end to such “discrimination”.

In a robustly worded formal notice, the commission informed Italy that its treatment of a group of foreign lecturers, known as lettori, broke rules on the free movement of European Union workers and required immediate action.

“Italy is still discriminating against foreign lecturers,” explained the notice, which gives the country two months to take action, stating that “most foreign lecturers have still not received the money to which they are entitled”.

The notice, which will lead to judicial proceedings if no action is forthcoming, has been hailed as a breakthrough in a decades-long campaign by foreign language teaching assistants at Italian universities who say they have been underpaid for years on account of the lack of equal job status.

The dispute goes back to 1980, when Italy passed a law granting tenure to Italian nationals teaching in universities while giving lettori annual contracts renewable for five years. This was successfully challenged in Italian courts and the European Court of Justice during the 1990s and early 2000s as discriminating on the basis of nationality, but no action was ultimately taken against Italy.

Any opportunity for redress appeared definitely blocked by the Gelmini law – named after Mariastella Gelmini, a former higher education minister – which came into force in 2011 and specifically “extinguished” ongoing lawsuits being pursued by the lettori.

Subsequently, many lettori complained that their pay has been cut by up to 60 per cent, causing the then UK prime minister David Cameron to raise their plight with the Italian government.

However, the European Commission had now demanded action from Italy after concluding that a key condition of a 2004 law – that Italian universities sign a collective agreement to guarantee foreign lecturers at least the status of a part-time researcher, and award them back payments for lost salary – which formed the basis of its 2007 decision to close proceedings against Italy, was not fulfilled.

It may mean that about 500 foreign nationals – many of whom are now retired or close to retirement – could receive tens of millions of euros in back pay, as well as higher salaries in future.

The surprise intervention is believed to be linked to the EU’s decision to funnel at least €15 billion (£12.9 billion) into Italian universities over the next five years as part of its €807 billion Covid-linked Next Generation recovery package, which lists education and research among its key missions.

“Italian universities are being very generously funded by the EU, which has clearly decided they must commit to what they have promised to do,” Henry Rodgers, an Irish national who moved to Italy in 1988 and teaches English at Sapienza University of Rome, told Times Higher Education, adding that Italy “cannot have it both ways – accepting the benefits of EU membership but being so lax on its responsibilities”.

“As a direct result of this discriminatory treatment, many retired lecturers are now living at a level that puts them below the poverty line,” said Professor Rodgers.

“This ruling should put an end to the endless waffle and give due respect to those who have come to Italy to teach language and culture. Our case has gone nowhere for 10 years, but I hope I can work at least one year before I retire under conditions of parity with my Italian colleagues.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com