Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO – Trade unions have welcomed the green light from the chamber of the Sicilian Regional Assembly (ARS) for a provision in the corrective budget bill concerning Arpa Sicilia (the Sicilian Regional Environmental Protection Agency).
The measure approved at Palazzo dei Normanni will launch a stabilisation process for 90 precarious workers, highly skilled staff previously selected through public procedures.
Badagliacca (Cisal): “Arpa has a 70% staffing shortfall, essential services saved”
Giuseppe Badagliacca, a representative of the Cisal trade union confederation, stressed the strategic importance of the measure, calling it a turning point for protecting the island’s land and people:
“The approval of the Arpa Sicilia provision will stabilise 90 professionals who are essential staff for an agency with a staffing shortfall of over 70%,” Giuseppe Badagliacca said. “Without these workers, the agency struggled greatly to provide and carry out vital services for public health, from air and water quality monitoring. This is a battle Cisal has fought with determination, and today we can proudly say we have won.”
Contracts start on 1 December as cross-party praise goes to institutions
The legislative measure comes just in time before current contracts expire, averting the risk of operational paralysis for the regional environmental body:
“We will avoid losing valuable skills and expertise gained in the field,” the Cisal union leader continued. “Almost all the contracts would have expired on 30 November: thanks to the national legal framework, stabilisation can officially begin on 1 December.”
Finally, he acknowledged the cross-party political consensus at Sala d’Ercole: “We wish to thank the President of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani, the member of the municipal executive responsible for land Giusi Savarino, the president of the ARS Gaetano Galvagno and all the majority and opposition political forces. They have shown a strong sense of responsibility in the exclusive interest of the workers and all Sicilian citizens.”
