Expat lecturers in italy win support of prime minister

Briton Christopher Burchett, who has lived and worked in Italy for over 20 years, wrote to David Cameron to ask him to try and stop Italian university authorities discriminating against foreign language lecturers.

There are an estimated 1,500 such lecturers, commonly known as lettori, working in the country, many of whom claim that they are treated as inferior to their Italian counterparts. Common complaints include low or unpaid wages, a denial of promotion opportunities, and exclusion from staff benefits such as pensions.

In his reply to Mr Burchett – a prominent member of the Association of Foreign Lecturers in Italy (ALLSI), an anti-discrimination campaign group – Mr Cameron said that the lettori had “my complete support in ending this discrimination” and that he and his ministers would do “everything we can to resolve urgently a situation which flouts the core principles of the single market."

He added: “We cannot interfere politically in the Italian courts' legal proceedings, but...[we will] nevertheless do everything we can to maintain the political profile of the case, to forestall further unnecessary delays and try if at all possible for a negotiated settlement.”

Source:  Telegraph.co.uk