AND completely unfounded the thesis, also taken up by some sector magazines, according to which the latest contractual renewal would have entailed a increase in tasks entrusted to school collaborators with regards toassistance and care of students’ personal hygiene attending primary and nursery school.
It is clear, in fact, that the new employment contract does not change or make the duties more burdensome foreseen, instead taking charge of specifying better and with greater clarity the services owed by the staff, delegating to the National Supplementary Bargaining the determination of compensation precisely for those which are considered particularly delicate, onerous or complex.
To confirm this, we could also cite the declarations made at the time by an authoritative exponent of an association that was not a signatory to the last CCNL, who in 2019, in light of what was contained in the contract in force at the time, that of the three-year period 2016-18 , he stated verbatim That “the school assistant can (and must) change the diaper of the nursery school student”.
ARAN recently dealt with the topic, responding to questions regarding the tasks of collaborators posed by some school principals regarding a alleged aggravation of the duties deriving from the new employment contract; clarifications which are now confirmed by a very recent application guideline (CIRS 124 of 5 November 2024) in which the Agency recalls, consistently with previous guidelines, what is contained in Annex A of the CCNL 2019/21, which it did not innovate the previous disciplineincluding among the professional specifications of the school collaborator “the necessary assistance…. in nursery and primary schools, in the use of toilets and in personal hygiene”. These tasks certainly include, writes the ARAN, also the activities aimed at “cleaning and washing of pupils as well as changing nappies”.
ARAN also recalls that “the Court of Cassation reached the same findings in the Cass ruling. pen., Sec. VI, (hearing date 19/02/2016) 30/05/2016, n. 22786, in which – holds l’ARAN – the duty of the intervention required of school collaborators deriving from the contractual legislation is identified”.
However, already in the past, and before the last contractual renewal, ARAN had intervened on the matter, in particular with the orientation CIRS62 of 24 February 2021 in which to the question “Is the personal hygiene of nursery school students included in the duties of school collaborators?” he replied: “Table A area A of the CCNL 29.11.2007 clearly provides that ATA personnel […] provides material assistance to disabled students in accessing the external areas of the school facilities, inside and exiting them, as well as in the use of the toilets and in the care of personal hygiene also with reference to the activities foreseen by the art. 47″ of the same CCNL”. This article 47, in fact, in paragraph 2, includes among the duties of the ATA staff “the fulfillment of tasks related to personal assistance […]”.
It is worth retracing the developments of an issue that has often been the cause of tensions and misunderstandings, as well as objective discomfort for the students concerned, also to do justice to the protests against the latest CCNL which clearly appear opportunistic and instrumental.
A little history
First of all, it is necessary to distinguish the period before the year 2000 – when the staff was partly subject to the contract of the Local Authorities and partly to that of the school – from the subsequent period (which, with Law 124/1999, transferred to the State all administrative, technical and auxiliary staff working in schools).
Until 1999 in elementary school the obligation of hygienic and physical assistance was guaranteed by the “job description” of the janitors employed by the Municipalities. The same job description, approved with Presidential Decree 347/1983 (subsequently confirmed in subsequent collective agreements for Local Authorities), expressly included, among the tasks of janitors, the personal hygiene care activities of service users.
In the middle schoolthe CCNL of August 1995 provided that the “janitors can provide assistance to disabled students, providing material assistance in accessing external areas to school facilities, inside and exiting such facilities, in the use of toilets and in taking care of personal hygiene”.
Finally, in the high school the janitors depended in some cases (professional institutes, technical institutes) on the provincial administrations and in other cases (high schools) on the school administration. Consequently, the rules of local authority contracts applied to the former and the school sector collective bargaining agreement to the others.
Legislative Decree 112/1998, intervening on administrative decentralization, attributes the functions of “support for school integration” to the Municipalities (for nursery, elementary and middle schools) and to the Provinces (for all types of high schools).
Following the entry into force of L.124/1999, a Protocol was signed between the then Ministry of Public Education, the UPI, the ANCI and the trade unions agreed on 12 September 2000. The Protocol was aimed at identifying the services and resources necessary to guarantee effective and correct management of the school service (this act also defines the so-called “mixed functions” for ATA staff).
Article 2, point B) of the protocol provides that “the assistance activity for the disabled, which is the responsibility of the School, is ensured by the auxiliary staff of the schools, within the limits of the provisions of the CCNL – School sector 26/05/1999 – art.31 – Profile A/2 school collaborator… However, they remain within the competence of the Local Authority those tasks of specialist assistance to disabled people to be carried out with qualified personnel both inside and outside the educational institution”.
The aforementioned table A/2 includes, among others, the tasks of welcoming and supervising students, cleaning, supervision, collaboration with teachers, material assistance to disabled students in accessing the areas outside school facilities and when leaving and assisting disabled students within school facilities, in the use of toilets and in the care of personal hygiene.
In the renewal for the two-year economic period of 15 March 2001table D which defines the professional profiles of the ATA staff, pending their overall reorganization, modifies, at least in part, the skills of the school collaborator. In fact, in addition to repeating what has already been established with reference to disabled students, accompanying table A/2 it is specified that “However, activities of material assistance to disabled students due to particularly difficult needs and for personal care activities must be guaranteed, also through particular forms of work organization and the use of additional functions or the provision of specific compensation. and material assistance to nursery school boys and girls in using toilets and caring for personal hygiene”. Participation in specific training and updating initiatives for collaborators is also reiterated, also with reference to integration and the prevention of school dropout.
With the subsequent Agreement of 8 March 2002, the subject of a specific contractual sequence in application of the provisions of art. 18 of the CCNL 15/03/2001, the school collaborators who work in nursery schools are expressly attributed additional function.
The CCNL 2002/2005, I economic two-year period, in art. 47 regulates the employment relationship of ATA staff, providing that the related tasks consist of:
a) the activities and tasks expressly foreseen by the area to which they belong;
b) Yes specific assignments which, within the limits of availability and within the scope of professional profiles, involve the assumption of additional responsibilities, and the carrying out of tasks of particular responsibility, risk or inconvenience, necessary for the implementation of the training offer plan, as described by the plan of activities.
The assignment of tasks is the responsibility of the school director, according to the methods, criteria and compensation defined by the institution’s negotiations as part of the activity plan. Specific tasks are therefore tasks which require greater commitment to carry out and therefore the national contract consistently provides for an additional remuneration for this purpose.
The subsequent CCNL relating to the second two-year economic period 2004/05, in article 7, introduces the so-called “economic positions” which, in essence, are to be interpreted as horizontal developments aimed at professional development aimed at workers in areas A (collaborators) and B (Assistants).
The assignment of economic positions takes place upon attendance and successful completion of a training course, and involves the assignment of further and more complex tasks which, for school collaborators, concern theassistance to disabled students and the organization of first aid interventions.
The 2006/09 CCNL does not intervene on the professional profiles of ATA staff, nor does the subsequent 2016/18 CCNL (signed, as will be remembered, after approximately ten years of blocking contractual renewals).
Finally, on the subject, it is important to remember the intervention of the VI criminal section of the Court of Cassation which, with sentence 22786/2016, criminally convicted three school workers for refusing to change the nappy of a disabled pupil.
Conclusions
The new CCNL 2019/2021, compared to the wording contained in the declaratory of the previous CCNL 2006/2009, in relation to the tasks inherent “… use of toilets and care of personal hygiene also with reference to the activities envisaged by art.47” simply adds the words “in nursery and primary schools”. It’s a matter of hindsight not of a new assignment of tasks, but rather of a clearer formulation which also intervenes to limit these services to two specific school levels.
Until today, all trade union organizations have always interpreted personal assistance as assistance in the use of toilets and personal hygiene (as already mentioned previously).
The same interpretation is also provided by ARAN, by the very recent CIRS124 application guideline as well as by the previous CIRS62 of 24 February 2021, and before that by the less recent guideline SCU_045 of 15 June 2012.
It is, therefore, quite clear that the CCNL 2019/21with reference to ATA personnel, does not assign any additional tasks; rather it contributes to greater clarity of the text, expressly providing for the payment of an additional remuneration, defined according to the criteria established by the institution’s bargaining, but which must in any case be in line with the valorisation of the economic positions.
