Crackdown on Italian pharmacists who go to work in Canton Ticino

Tough times ahead for working Italian pharmacists nelle farmacie della Svizzera ticinese con la qualifica di assistente. Il Governo del cantone, infatti, si preparerebbe a varare una modifica alla Legge sanitaria del 1989 che limiterebbe l’accesso a tale profilo soltanto a chi ha conseguito un’adeguata formazione professionale. La notizia rimbalza dalla 52° Assemblea nazionale dell’Ataf (Associazione ticinese assistenti di farmacia), ospitata l’altro ieri a Paradiso, sul lago di Lugano, dov’è stata accolta con estremo piacere dai delegati del sindacato. Questo importante passo legislativo, ha detto il rappresentante del governo cantonale Paolo Beltraminelli, tutela finalmente una professione praticamente unica in Europa, ma determinante in Ticino, dove vi sono spesso “attacchi” ai posti di lavoro da parte di personale straniero.

The issue is years old: the pharmacy assistant is a professional figure required by Ticino legislation and does not require the achievement of a degree in pharmacy, even if the tasks at the counter also include the advice and sale of medicines (under the responsibility of the pharmacist). Throughout the canton, around eight hundred people are employed with this qualification, which involves a three-year apprenticeship with a final diploma. The salary is regulated by a collective labor agreement and the monthly salary starts from 3,250 Swiss francs (about three thousand euros) to reach over 4,300 francs (about 4 thousand euros) after five years. The result, Ataf has been denouncing for years, is that a growing number of Ticino pharmacies prefer to hire Italian pharmacists, who accept lower salaries (but still higher than in Italy) and are not bound by the category contract. Until now, the authorities had always minimized (there would be about fifty Italians hired as assistants in all, said the head of the cantonal pharmaceutical service, Giovanni Maria Zanini, a couple of years ago, to Corriere della Sera) but in the end the pressure from the Ataf prevailed.

(AS – 28/10/2016 – Federfarma)