2024-07-29 06:00:17
BOLZANO. Internal language courses, external courses, stays abroad with a reimbursement of expenses in the latter case of up to 5 thousand euros; language certification exams for levels B2 and C1 organized by the ASL with internationally recognized bodies. Hours of lessons considered as working hours. Internal basic courses (A1) intensive for one month up to a maximum of eight hours of lessons per day. During the course it is not possible to work, except in cases of emergency that may occur within the department.
The guidelines
The ASL has published, in recent days, on the public notice board the new guidelines – they will be sent in the next few days to all 10 thousand employees – which define in detail the initiatives to support bilingualism, aimed at obtaining certifications. An essential condition, to see the fixed-term contract renewed at the end of the three years which, at that point, becomes permanent.
It is estimated – the data is updated at the beginning of the year – that there are about 400 doctors and nurses employed by the ASL without the certificate required by the Statute of Autonomy. But their presence is considered indispensable, to make the health system work, which is already struggling to guarantee services.
For this reason, at the time, an attempt was made to accommodate healthcare workers without certification by granting them more time to learn the second language.
The possibility of extending a fixed-term contract by two years (five years in total) had been introduced.
But European legislation, also implemented at national level, provides that fixed-term contracts cannot be renewed for more than three years. Hence the sudden slowdown that, at the beginning of this year, had caused protests by unions due to the situation of serious uncertainty caused to doctors and nurses, who thought they had five years to obtain language certification, and instead only have three.
The unions
“Finally – commented Edoardo Bonsante, secretary of Anaao – things are clear. Now at least those who arrive know what initiatives are promoted by the ASL to allow them to learn the other language, over the course of three years. We had asked for it, to meet the needs of our colleagues”.
Ivano Simioni, secretary of the Bsk hospital union, also commented positively: «The ASL is also adapting to what is happening abroad, where, to deal with the shortage of health workers, golden bridges are made for those arriving from other countries and a series of supports are guaranteed to encourage language learning. It is clear that if someone works, it is not easy to find the time to study; if you then bring your family here, it becomes even more complicated. The ASL, in the new guidelines, has planned to recognize at least a certain number of hours for attending courses. However, this will cause some problems in the departments, always struggling with staff shortages. After all, there are no alternatives. If we want colleagues who arrive from outside to stay here, they must also be helped in their language learning process».
2024-07-29 06:00:17