The appeal of social cooperatives: "Our value must be recognized"

It is a crucial sector for the welfare, care and social cohesion of the country: and yet, social cooperation struggles to see its value recognized by the institutions and is forced to fight every day to support its human capital . This is the alarm raised by Massimo Ascari, national president of Legacoopsociali: more than a year after the renewal of the national collective agreement for social cooperatives , in which an average increase of +15% was foreseen for approximately 350 thousand employees of social enterprises, "at least two thirds of the national territory has not responded positively - he declares - to the adjustment required by the new tariffs". The renewal concerns professional profiles that are the basis of care work in our country: from street educators to staff employed in nursery schools and kindergartens, from nurses and social health workers to educators in penitentiary institutions, up to those responsible for the maintenance of public green spaces and street cleaning in urban centers. "Social work is necessary 365 days a year and ensures the buffering of real emergencies, such as support for caregivers of elderly or disabled people and the continuity of services in peripheral and mountain areas - continues Ascari -. Yet, some regions claim budget problems to avoid paying for our services, causing serious inconvenience to citizens who are completely blameless for their inefficiencies".

The appeal, therefore, is to the institutions - from the municipalities to the government - to take "collective, collaborative and incisive action, aimed at recognizing the services we guarantee". The investment in human capital by social cooperatives does not only include the payment of salaries, but also the continuous training of professionals who work in particularly delicate contexts, such as that of disabilities and the needs generated by the progressive aging of the Italian population. "The vision of the society of the future necessarily passes through the care of the last - concludes Ascari -. The territories should learn to outline a far-sighted program, capable of going beyond the single electoral mandate: only in this way will they be able to guarantee a social and economic fabric that is sufficiently attractive both for citizens and for the companies that operate there".