Asia Napoli turns 25, FP CGIL: “There is little to celebrate”

“Today - writes Maria Manocchio, general secretary of the Public Function Cgil metropolitan area of ​​Naples, in a request for a meeting with Mayor Manfredi and Councilor Santagada - Asia Napoli will celebrate 25 years since its birth and will do so with a large public event.

We do not understand the reason for so much ostentation in the face of what we consider a failure in terms of modernization, competitiveness and efficiency of the company, which only two years ago, on the wave of trust granted by the Sole Shareholder Municipality of Naples, were declared essential objectives.

With the arrival of the current management of ASIA NAPOLI, charged with leading the subsidiary company towards a modern and revolutionary structure in terms of management and organisation, we must unfortunately note that nothing has changed compared to the old system logic, indeed the climate and management appear to have even worsened”.

In the face of the significant operation to reinforce the workforce, necessary for the no longer postponable situation of the ageing workforce and the numerous retirements still underway, and which requires further additions of work units, "there has not been - underlines the trade unionist - a push in terms of efficiency and competitiveness of services, operational organization and safety of the structures

. What happened, for example, net of the spot announcements during catwalk events, to the project for the construction of the composting plant in Naples East, the culmination of a company policy aimed at strengthening in-core activities with a consequent reduction in disposal costs?

We are concerned that despite the timeframe that envisaged the completion of the works by 2026, to date not even the first stone has been laid and that there is no news about the signing of the contract with the company awarded the construction works. Are there still resources allocated to the project by the Campania Region, after the failure to include it in the list of fundable PNRR?

We ask for clarity, we demand to know if these are simple bureaucratic slips or even if the possibility is occurring that the project relating to the plant activities of Asia Napoli is no longer a pre-eminent interest. Even more so - continues Manocchio - considering the fact that the identification of part of the current management of Asia and the promotion of top figures in the company were justified by the project to relaunch and strengthen the plant engineering part of the company".

The union emphasizes what is defined as a “home management” of the Company that “for some time now – explains Manocchio – has been carried out, without any comparison of needs, with respect to the hiring of high-level profiles and temporary staff, through direct calls or notices to intermediary agencies.

Despite the fact that there is currently a wide choice available among internal resources and the numerous jobs already carried out to find personnel to be employed in management offices, we still continue with the inclusion of temporary workers to be assigned to individual offices, even through the stipulation of an expensive direct call contract for a "Manager" profile to be used in staff with the Sole Director.

Not to mention that in Asia Naples the so-called "Managers" are now advancing in an impressive manner, either through ad hoc selections or through direct recognition according to tasks that are not always assessable in terms of cost-benefit.

On the contrary - continues the secretary - administrative employees who have been carrying out higher duties for years and who, in order to obtain a miserable fourth level after an exhausting battle, have been waiting since last May for the commitments made by the Human Resources Department to be respected are not considered worthy of recognition.

Just as the personnel offices that manage the over 2200 employees and the district offices themselves are still lacking in terms of units, there does not seem to be a priority for intervention”.

According to the CGIL complaint, a climate of dissatisfaction has been created among the employees of Asia Napoli, who are helplessly watching the discretionary actions of the Management, "detectable - says Maria Manocchio - from the very high amount of litigation currently existing.

A dispute that Asia does not even try to prevent and that subsequently, instead of seeking advantageous solutions, persists in pursuing even in the presence of appeals in which it is clearly defeated. This unbridled attempt to not want to seek solutions determines the continuous and significant disbursement of public money in favor of legal consultancy for both parties, with an almost light use of public resources".

The union dedicates a separate chapter to waste collection. “When we talk about the failure of the Asia project - says the secretary - we cannot fail to refer to the disaster of operational management that is there for all to see. The start of the Door to Door collection projects was not matched by adequate organization in terms of resources and men.

An organization in constant change, managed day by day, with references and situations that change according to moods and without any upstream planning. The staff of the operational offices and especially the District Heads, are forced to chase emergencies in the absence of a clear direction from the Management; no one feels the need to listen to their opinion supported by the skills acquired in the field and if the city of Naples has not yet exploded it is due to the mere will to intervene of these men and women, combined with the will of the supervisors and workers who in this state of affairs do what they can, without receiving a shred of recognition for their commitment (indeed receiving daily dressing downs, protests and complaints).

In addition to the disorganization on the operational level, the greater difficulties in controlling the homogeneity of activities arise from the continuous outsourcing that is no longer limited to supplementary services, but has widened its scope to the so-called in-core services of unsorted waste collection, organic waste and even bell washing.

Just as part of the ordinary maintenance services of the buildings is also entrusted to external parties, with serious repercussions on the response times required even in emergencies within the various structures, while it would be more efficient and appropriate to strengthen the internal maintenance teams.

Public money destined to increase the economies of private individuals, while a ranking of suitable personnel from the competition is open and functional, which, when calculated, would represent a saving in costs and greater control over the activities carried out.

But the great disaster of Asia management does not stop here. In fact, while the attention of the Management is oriented to train "Managers" and directors of the future, to accommodate individual requests from officials to be able to provide themselves with personal assistants, to consult high-ranking lawyers to counter helpless employees, the buildings in which the operational headquarters are located continue to report structural problems that have never been resolved.

The street sweeping office in Piazza Cavour - Manocchio adds - is an underground place where even the minimum of safety is not guaranteed (especially in times of violent weather events like those that are periodically occurring everywhere); the office in Via Antiniana located on land belonging to the municipality of Pozzuoli is dangerously sitting on the solfatara that shakes daily several times a day; the Marco Polo street sweeping office has been closed, the workers transferred piled up in Via Antiniana and it is not known if and when it will be reopened; the office in Via G. Ferraris must move due to the change of ownership but there is not yet a new safe address, or at least we have not been informed.

We will not go into further detail so as not to bore the list. However, we would like to point out that we have repeatedly asked Asia to start a discussion with the Municipality of Naples to find adequate, functional and safe structures, but apparently the well-being and safety of the workers matter little or nothing, the Management has more important things to do”.

For all of the above, the union requests the Mayor of Naples and the competent councilor to activate an institutional table to concretely address the issue of the future of Asia Napoli, which is and "must remain - concludes Manocchio - necessarily a publicly managed company, but which cannot continue to be managed as a private company by a Management that believes it can make a personalistic and reckless use of it".

PB