Cisl: 'Good News on School Cuts.' On Pensions and Healthcare the Government Is 'Still Checking'
Secretary general Daniela Fumarola says the school-cuts issue 'seems to have been settled'. On pensions and healthcare, after the Palazzo Chigi meeting, the government says it is 'still checking': 'Pensioners are not a cash machine.'
✨ Riassunto AI
Daniela Fumarola, general secretary of the Cisl union, summed up the long meeting with the government over the budget bill, held on the afternoon of 13 November 2026 at Palazzo Chigi. The firm point is schools: according to Fumarola the request to halt the cuts "seems to have been accepted". On pensions and healthcare the picture stays open: the union was told the government "is still checking", including through the parliamentary process. On pensions Fumarola asked that scarce resources go "to those who really need them", repeating that "pensioners are not a cash machine". Neither issue is closed.
The meeting took place on the afternoon of 13 November 2026 at Palazzo Chigi, and Cisl general secretary Daniela Fumarola spoke immediately afterwards, taking stock of the three topics weighing most heavily on the budget bill: schools, pensions and healthcare. For school staff and for pensioners the question is the same: is what changes certain, or still in play? According to Fumarola's statements, the answer differs across the three chapters.
Schools: the request "accepted". On the cut to school staffing Fumarola speaks of "an important result": the union's request "seemed to have been accepted". "Having settled this issue reassures us," she added, because in a complicated phase a strong signal is needed to "an educational agency that must deal with the future of our country". This is the part closest to a conclusion, but it is the union's reading, not a piece of legislation. The map of teaching posts and protests is in our piece on the school strike of 20 November.
Pensions: "still checking". Here there is no outcome. According to Fumarola, the government told the union it "continues to verify" and will look for answers "also through the parliamentary process". Fumarola hopes for a solution that is as positive as possible at this stage, acknowledges that "the difficulty with resources" is "objective" and argues that, precisely "because they are few, they must be concentrated on those who really need them". The line that sums up the message to pensioners is blunt: "Pensioners are not a cash machine."
Healthcare: available funds to be "poured" in. On healthcare Fumarola reports that institutions "are continuing to check what is available" and that "all that becomes practicable will be poured into healthcare". Asked whether new resources will come, she said yes, explaining that "chapters they know they can dig into" are being examined. Here too: no figures, no written commitment.
For the wider picture of public finances there is also our piece on the Bank of Italy hearing on the budget, which documents public health spending at 6.3% of GDP.
Source note: Daniela Fumarola's statements and the account of the meeting are taken from L'Identità.