In the four decades that Demetrio spent working in the printing house, this institution has completely changed its face. It is not only about merging two previously separate structures into one compact organism, but above all about the very approach of the Vatican City State – including the Pope – to employees and their tasks. 1982 was a turning point. Also for Demetria himself.
– I was then finally hired full-time. I owed it only to the commitment of John Paul II. He took great care of all his employees, regardless of the type of work they did. When he proclaimed the Extraordinary Holy Year in 1983, he gave each of us a personal commemorative diploma and an additional salary. In terms of today’s amounts, it was about a thousand euros. A significant sum.
It was John Paul II who founded trade unions in the Vatican. What a revolution! My colleagues and I all signed up for the union right away. It happened also sometimes later that we organized an internal Vatican strike: we went “in procession” to the workers’ canteen and held a meeting there. A lot of priests looked inside through the windows, wondering what we were doing. And, we protested because, for example, we asked for a raise, but we were not given it, we wanted to introduce remuneration for the so-called years of service or to vary the level of earnings depending on the type of employment, the place of work and its nature. We went on strike thanks to the existence of the trade unions that the Pope had established, and in the end it was thanks to John Paul II that we managed to get everything we wanted to receive.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
pages: 68 – 69
