The mayor of a town near Naples has provoked polemics with a plan to install fingerprint recognition devices in council offices in a bid to ensure employees really do come to work.
The new system will make it impossible for one worker to clock in for colleagues who would prefer to stay at home or spend time elsewhere instead of passing long hours in the office.
Francesco Taglatela, mayor of Giugliano, wants the system to be in operation by next week but local union leaders, spurred on by angry workers, are up in arms.
"It's quite absurd to resort to such sophisticated methods. We're not at NASA or the CIA here," said Antonio Santomassimo of the CGIL union.
A group of council workers asked the mayor to suspend the launch of the fingerprint system until a ruling could be obtained from the national privacy ombudsman.
But Taglatela refused, saying that the system posed no threat to privacy and that there was no reason to delay bringing it into operation.
"I've been involved with the public administration for years and I know that any change always brings concern and tension," he said. "This is just a modern instrument. That's all".
But the council workers' union is insisting the mayor hold off on his plan, or at least talk to union representatives about it.
"The money could have been spent much more sensibly. Also, as it says in our contract, these sorts of measures have to be agreed with unions first," Santomassimo said.
According to a recent report by the state audit court, the average employee of the Italian public administration stays at home on at least 50 working days a year as a result of holidays, illnesses and other unspecified circumstances.
