The Court of Cosenza says yes to meal vouchers for night shifts for nurses

COSENZA - The Court of Cosenza has recognized that those who work at night in the hospital are entitled to a meal voucher, just like those who work during the day. This was announced by the nurses' union Nursing Up. It is, as written in a note, "much more than a local ruling: it is a jurisprudential earthquake destined to shake the foundations of the incorrect habits of many health companies".

A lawsuit, the note adds, "strongly supported by the Nursing Up union has led to the recognition of the right to a meal voucher for every work shift longer than six hours, even if carried out at night. The ruling has also established a total compensation of over 48,000 euros for the workers involved, plus legal interest and monetary revaluation, as financial compensation for years of penalizing treatment and systematic denial of an elementary right. The figure, therefore, is destined to grow further".

The Court, the union reports, "reaffirmed that the meal voucher, even if in a substitute form with respect to the canteen service, is a welfare tool to protect the health of workers, and that its denial - in the presence of shifts longer than six hours - constitutes a violation of contractual obligations and of art. 2087 cc". "A clear ruling, which nails the responsibilities and does justice for years of omissions - says the national president of Nursing Up Antonio De Palma -. Today a Court gives a voice to those who keep vigil at night in the departments. Rights are not asked for on one's knees: they are earned with the law and defended with determination".

Nursing Up "is already working to extend the legal battle on a national scale: dozens of similar actions are at an advanced stage in other regions. The one in Cosenza is only the first of many sentences that will make history. A meal voucher denied to those who guarantee night care is the symbol of a system that needs to be refounded. And we are already writing that revolution with sentences".