April 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1428

ROME: Change is afoot in Italy’s public sector and most of those it would affect, from civil servants to teachers to traffic wardens, don’t like the prospect one bit. Italy is notorious for its north-south wealth divide, but there is another, less immediately obvious division: between those who work for a private enterprise — often themselves — and those who work for the state.

Ask the former what they think of the latter and you will often hear words like lazy, privileged, inefficient.

Data from the international World Values Survey shows public confidence in the state sector in Italy is among the lowest in Europe.

Romano Prodi’s government clearly doesn’t dismiss such judgments because it has pledged to reform the sector by introducing concepts like service, productivity, assessment and promotion based on merit rather than length of service.

The case for reform is compelling. In the last five years public sector wages have risen by almost 15 per cent more than in the private sector, with no link to productivity.

Moreover, the vast majority of those pay hikes were due to automatic promotions based simply on length of service. But pay is only part of the problem.

“In the public sector management of personnel is subject to heavy constraints, incentives are modest, the autonomy and accountability of management are often insufficient,” Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi said in a recent keynote speech.

Perhaps not surprisingly, many public sector employees like it that way, and their trade unions are resisting the government’s plans for a shakeup.

“I know I am privileged,” said Stefania Braghetta, a 38-year old traffic warden from the north-eastern town of Ferrara.

“Until five years ago I worked twice as hard for a private accountancy firm. Now my back is covered. It makes no difference whether I work or not. I don’t abuse the system but I easily could, for example by taking sick days whenever I need a rest.”

“Any decisions must be ‘concerted with’ (read: made by) the trade unions themselves,” wrote Bruno Stagnaro, a director of the free-market Bruno Leoni think-tank, in a recent article.

“The unions are one of the key reasons the public sector is so inefficient.”—Reuters