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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Dozens of employees of the Vatican Museums have filed a complaint alleging unfair working conditions in one of the most visited museum complexes in the world.
The complaint by 49 workers, most of them custodians, alleges that staffers are treated as "commodities" by the Vatican, according to a report in Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.
In a rare challenge to Pope Francis' governance, the workers, who are all Italians, are demanding greater transparency about how employees can advance, as well as better leave and overtime benefits.
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The Vatican Museums are a sprawling complex that displays a priceless collection of thousands of works across 54 galleries, including Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. The complex employs more than 700 people.
The workers have sent a petition to Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the Vatican City State administration, which controls the museums. They allege that the Vatican's labor rules cause conditions "undermining each worker's dignity and health," Laura Sgrò, an attorney representing the workers, told Reuters.
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"Workers have decided this action only after all their demands and requests over years were left unanswered," she said.
Newsweek has contacted via email a spokesperson for the Vatican and the Vatican Museums for comment.
Sgrò said the labor rules include extra work that is paid at lower rates. She also said that because of the lack of furlough schemes in Vatican labor legislation, staffers who did not work when the Vatican Museums were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic are being forced to give back salary money paid during that period.
Employees are also criticizing rules that require them to stay home all day to await a visit from a representative of their employer to verify they are actually sick. Some employees reported facing disciplinary action because the visit came while they were at the doctor's office, the Catholic Herald reported.
The workers also allege that the number of people that pass through the Vatican Museums every day exceeds the official cap of 24,000. They say there are only two emergency exits in the museums and many rooms without air conditioning, which poses serious risks in the hot summer months when galleries are packed with visitors and staffers are responsible for administering first aid.
"With this action, we want to be constructive. We hope this can prove the right occasion for a general rethinking of the Vatican labor rules," Sgrò said.
The petition is the first step in a mandatory conciliation process under Vatican law. If it fails, it could lead to the first-ever class-action suit being brought to a Vatican court, according to the Catholic Herald.
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