From the atmospheric difficulties in Valle Camonica to the importance of safety and collaboration. “I want to make work more peaceful and safe for everyone”
14 nov. 2024 – Giacomo Calzoni He is 45 years old, the father of a 3-year-old girl, and has lived together as a “de facto couple” for 20 years.
He has been working for 5 months in the environmental hygiene sector for VCS, Valle Camonica Servizi, a municipal companyafter 8 years spent in public transport, on school buses.
What exactly is your role?
“I am a driver and door-to-door ecological operator. I am a single operator but I work in a team with three or four colleagues. Based on the extension of the territory to be served, we decide a priori with the manager how the work should be divided and then, each with their own vehicle, goes into the various municipalities – he replies -. It should be highlighted that our municipalities are purely medium-high mountain municipalities. the largest town is Darfo Boario Terme, with 15 thousand inhabitants. Valle Camonica has around 100,000 inhabitants and few towns have around 5-6,000 inhabitants, many have around 1000-2000 inhabitants – he specifies -. We only collect undifferentiated waste. Paper, plastic, glass and wet waste are collected by a cooperative.”
But if you are a single operator, why are you talking about teamwork?
“The municipality is divided into sectors and each single operator has one but if a colleague needs a hand there must be collaboration – he clarifies -. It doesn’t happen in all teams, many help each other, others don’t, because they don’t need it or due to interpersonal problems. For this reason I believe it is essential that, at the base, there is always dialogue with colleagues and management. Also because, and it is equally fundamental, we carry out a public service, essential for the community, and the dirt must be removed from the streets”.
What are the problems of your work?
“Water, rain, snow, etc. they are elements that make the difference, working in the high mountains, on our working conditions. In the various villages in the foothills there is the possibility of finding snow, of having an accident with the vehicle, and having to put on chains. In water, visibility is reduced. But even early in the morning, especially in winter, not all the streets are illuminated. We have to be very careful. For us, safety is very important, decisive. So we have to have all the personal protective equipment and wear all the high visibility clothing. Use flashing lights on vehicles. Furthermore – he adds –, by collecting unsorted waste, we do not know what is inside it. We always do all the emptying of the tubs by hand. We must wear masks to avoid hygienic-sanitary problems.”
Regarding the staff, are there any shortcomings?
“The number of ecological operators is sufficient to guarantee the service, but we are at the limit, with no margins for absences or unforeseen events. If necessary, we are available to work overtime. It goes without saying that in the long term, this precarious situation could become a critical issue.”
There are RSU elections on 3 and 4 December and you are running with the FP Cgil, why?
“It’s the first time I’ve applied, after an 8-year experience as a CISL member, because I had a smart contact person. Now I have moved to the CGIL, where I have found very good trade unionists and it is right to give credit to the people who are committed. The CGIL is also more deeply rooted and more distributed throughout the territory. Almost every municipality here has a CGIL desk, the CGIL is close to the worker – considers Calzoni -. With my candidacy I want to commit myself, having the national environmental hygiene contract as a basis, to strengthen second level bargaining, starting from corporate welfare. Rights, conditions and safety of those who work must always be improved. I want to commit to using dialogue with the company to show concrete attention towards its employees, towards the worker. I want – he says in conclusion – to make the working environment of my colleagues as peaceful as possible, because if the colleague is satisfied, if he works with serenity, the service provided will also benefit”.
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