From Italy with Litigation: An Interview With David Petrie
by Michael P. Gerace
David Petrie, who is a 50-year-old lecturer at the University of
Verona and Chair of ALLSI (which, in English, is the Association of Foreign Language Lecturers in Italy), has been on a long crusade for the rights of foreign lecturers in Italy. Petrie has been lobbying the European Parliament over practices of the Italian State since 1992. Discrimination by the Italian State against foreign lecturers (known as lettori) employed in Italian Universities by offering them different contracts than Italian teaching staff was deemed illegal by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 1989 and 1993. The Italian Government reacted to the 1993 ECJ ruling by sending a telex to rectors of universities throughout the country, ordering the suspension of all teaching activities of lettori. The telex led to a mass of litigation as hundreds of lettori hired lawyers.
Italy ultimately changed its law in 1995 to correspond with European Union (EU) law in response to the ECJ rulings, but it simultaneously changed the status of the lettori by downgrading the position to one of a nonteaching language technician. The cut in status also resulted in a cut in pay. The Italian State then offered the country’s 1,500 lettori new contracts to work in the downgraded positions. Those lettori who demanded to keep their old status (and salaries) at the Universities of Verona, Naples, Salerno, and Bologna were summarily fired. Petrie was among those sacked at the University of Verona. He responded with a lawsuit against the Italian State that found its way into the ECJ, where Petrie recently won his case.
Q: When was the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy founded, by whom, and how many of Italy’s 1,500 foreign language teaching lecturers belong? Does ALLSI have members who are American citizens?
A: Associazione Lettori di Lingua Straniera in Italia was founded in 1997 out of an ad hoc campaign called Committee for the Defence of Foreign Lecturers. The three founding members are myself (Scottish), Francoise Salnicoff (French), and David Verzoni (American). The association has about 500 members, and we advise lecturers in other countries too. We have about 40 American members.
Q: How does the Association keep in touch with its membership?
A: We send out regular briefings by e-mail
Q: What is the organization’s mission? How is the Association
funded?
A: To ensure that EU law is respected and that all forms of discrimination are exposed and eliminated. Members pay monthly dues.
Q: Do you know of similar associations in other European countries for lecturers? Does ALLSI have plans to solicit member lecturers from other EU nation universities?
A: There is a trade union in the UK called LEAF, who have asked us for advice. I have had inquiries from Spain, UK, Germany, and Sweden — but they usually involve single instances — or low pay, which is not illegal.
Q: Press accounts say that you and 22 other foreign lecturers in Italy were fired for refusing to be demoted from lecturers to language lab technicians. Is this accurate? Why did your employers want to demote you?
A: Twenty-two were sacked for insubordination and have now been reinstated and compensated. The University of Venice lost in the ECJ (the EU Supreme Court) on the question of the duration of our contracts, and the State had to intervene and abrogate its offending law. This it did, but it brought in a new law saying we could have open-ended contracts as collaboratori ed esperti linguistici. We refused these contracts, saying we were entitled to open-ended contracts from the first day of the first contract, a position which was upheld in the ECJ on June 26, 2001.
Q: Was the demotion one in name only? Would lecturers still have done essentially the same work for the same pay, but under the auspices of a different title?
A: No, it was a new contract and would mean loss of seniority, and it moved us from teaching staff to nonteaching staff. Having lost in the ECJ, the State shifted the goalposts, or tried to.
Q: You and your 22 colleagues who fought the demotion in court won the case, and have been reinstated to your previous positions and awarded thousands of dollars in back pay. What’s left to be done?
A: A lot still to be done — reconstruction of career from the first day of the first contract. I am still getting a monthly salary of 2 million lire [about U.S. $906 or 1,032 EU] — the same as 10 years ago. Also, the recent decision of the ECJ has yet to be implemented.
Q: Lecturers here in Perugia recently won a lawsuit as well, having to do with their status. Was that connected to ALLSI at all? Do you know of other suits around Italy?
A: Our lawyers presented a summary of legal cases pending in the Italian courts — over 1,000. Most of the Perugia lettori are members of ALLSI.
Q: How have the Italian universities responded to your court victory? A university in Germany recently posted a job advertisement for term lecturers which, basically, excluded all EU national applicants and gave as the reason for the exclusion the finding of the EU Court of Justice against Italy (your court case and
subsequent victory). Has ALLSI won the battle and lost the war, so to speak?
A: This has got to be wrong. They cannot advertise in this way, and if they did, it is legally actionable by any interested party. There is some confusion here.
Q: What’s next for you and ALLSI?
A: I am waiting for a decision in Petrie and Others v. The European Commission. We will be busy. I have just sent legal warning to over 25 universities and to the Berlusconi government. If they do not alter their law and practice, ALLSI will be back in Brussels
demanding that the Commission take Italy back to the ECJ and impose fines.
