"The responsibilities are clear and no longer tolerable." The Sassari CISL FP union's accusation is clear and targets the Regional Health Department, along with the management of the local health authorities (ASL) and the local health authority (AOU). "They are culpably blocking union discussions by preventing the implementation of contractual provisions that directly impact the financial, professional, and organizational improvements of the staff," Antonio Monni, secretary of the Sassari CISL FP union, and the regional secretary Gianmario Sardu, denounced in a statement. Union representatives say it is unacceptable that, months after the new National Collective Bargaining Agreement for Healthcare came into force, and despite requests signed by the CISL FP, the 2024 contractual gaps have not yet been settled and the 2025 supplementary bargaining rounds have not been initiated. This has serious consequences, especially for AOU staff, who have not benefited from productivity payments, salary and career progression, just as nothing has been done to enhance skills and improve work organization.
The trade association highlights the hospital's critical issues, from overcrowding in overstretched emergency rooms to staffing shortages, particularly among healthcare workers and nurses. "Furthermore," the statement notes, "in some specialized and semi-intensive care units, there is no on-call doctor, leaving healthcare workers to manage complex clinical situations that could pose obvious professional and safety risks." Dissatisfaction is also expressed over staff recruitment and the "intolerable confusion between competitive rankings, qualification rankings, the use of temporary workers, and the use of so-called 'construction site workers,' resulting in a chaotic system that generates conflict, precariousness, waste of resources, and poor service." The union therefore calls for order to be restored and for the Department, Local Health Authorities, and Local Health Units (AOU) to establish, they write, "genuine labor relations, not formal and inconclusive meetings; an extraordinary plan for permanent hiring; and structural organizational interventions to reduce overcrowding and ensure dignified standards of care."
