"We note in these hours an instrumental and gratuitous attack on Messinaservizi Bene Comune that comes from the only trade union, Uil Trasporti, which has always, or rather since the Company began to do things that until last December no one did, opposed the action of this Administration". This was said by Giuseppe Lombardo, president of Messinaservizi Bene Comune, who added: 'For months the company has been committed to sharing difficult choices and transformations in a complicated scenario with all the workers and trade unions. This administration has been left with the thankless task of resolving a situation left behind that is not easy to normalise, both with regard to the situation of infrastructures and production factors, and with regard to personnel management". 'The company,' Lombardo continues, 'finally, after being left 'at a standstill' by the inertia of the previous management, contracted all the supplies using public procedures. But unfortunately all this is only now translating into concrete facts. The new vehicles and equipment are only now arriving after all the tenders and contract signing stages have been completed. The situation of the former Messinambiente 'vehicle parcel' is there for all to see, and Uil Trasporti is well aware of the situation because we have always informed the unions of everything that is happening in the company and of how the majority of the vehicles loaned to Messininaservizi are old and obsolete. "No one," Lombardo continues, "talks about the inconvenience of having to deliver waste to a landfill that is a good 125 km away, and the lack of a storage site to compensate for any stoppages at the site, but also about the continuous crash of the vehicles that are subjected to constant stress and tour de force. All this generates the need to continually make retrievals and hourly extensions to allow the city to be cleaned in the best possible way". 'We contest,' Lombardo continues, 'the claim that the city is dirty. This is not true. In the given situation, the city is managed in the best possible way and in comparison with other metropolitan cities, a company cannot be criticised for not having an adequate fleet of vehicles and no disposal site in the city or in the vicinity, but manages to guarantee an adequate level of cleaning and waste collection. And let us also remember that the city of Messina is 30 square kilometres larger than Milan. And this is thanks to the help of the workers, especially those who are asked to make personal sacrifices and who are always willing to work. The company asked all workers to come forward with the note of 1 March 2019 prot. no. 2184 to work longer hours if necessary. No one responded. Not all workers are willing to work extended hours and overtime. Many want to go home once they are off duty. In some cases we were forced to apply the contract and force them to work beyond their contractual hours. It is easy to compare with previous years. But three years ago the number of workers in the sector was over 550. Last year there were 511 on average. This year we are down to 500. And workers with restrictions and over 62 years of age? Increased. As of today we have 100 staff with over 60 years of age. We have about 70 units with various health limitations that do not allow them to carry out sweeping and collection work. About 10 long-suffering workers who have not been with the company for months. And let's not talk about the absences that occur every day due to illness. In the month of May 2019 alone, the average sickness absence was almost 50 employees per day, despite the fact that we had initiated the procedures required by law for medical and fiscal checks. 10% of the employed workforce. Then there is the fact that many workers perform administrative services and this also affects the need for workers in the services. How it is possible to perform the service in these situations surprises even ourselves, and to do it with the efficiency allowed by this scenario only adds to the amazement. The number of hours used in overtime is certainly high, but in line with what has been described above, and we would like to specify that it does not affect the cost of the tariff by one cent because it is all already included in the cost of personnel. There is a chronic shortage of staff, especially efficient staff, and 21,000 hours of overtime is equivalent to 30 staff units that are actually lacking for the reasons mentioned. In truth, the necessary and missing work units needed are far more than 30. We are sure that the company's action is appreciated by the vast majority of workers and trade unions whose relationship is excellent and of mutual cooperation. It will not be some frustration or the failure to achieve some personal position that will invalidate the work carried out so far by the many who have sacrificed even their families for the results that have been achieved and that will see their materialisation shortly. No one will be allowed to 'hetero-manage' the company as has happened in the past. This management will not allow anyone to mortify the work of so many for the sake of a few petty positions and will assume its responsibilities in all fora, even to its own personal detriment, but with only one objective: to render a better service. With deeds and not with words. The time of General Directors who are 'friends' of someone is long gone. They must resign themselves.