The councilor, the city councilor, and the mayor's wife: A batch of politicians are being recruited into Arpal's employment centers.

The competitive examinations completed since 2021, under former Director General Massimo Cassano, were won by individuals with political ties. But even Arpal's new direction appears to favor the same rationale, for legitimate but nonetheless discretionary decisions. Therefore, it's not surprising that the list of new directors of the Employment Centers includes many individuals with ties to the center-left.

Coincidences, of course. As in the case of the new director of the Martina Franca Employment Center. Her name is Elena Convertini, and she's the city's councilor for Social Services, appointed in March by the center-left government. She became head of the Employment Center 11 days after her appointment.

Technically, these are "highly qualified" positions, a sort of deputy management position that Arpal assigned following an internal announcement: those who meet the requirements apply, but the choice is then left to the manager's full discretion. In this specific case, manager Marta Basile, who took over from Aress, replaced former manager Luigi Mazzei, Cassano's right-hand man in politics, who retired despite the Arpal board's efforts to retain him. However, the new general manager, Gianluca Budano, disregarded the board's recommendation (which stated that Mazzei was "irreplaceable"), and the Labor Court ruled in his favor.

The director appointments, then. In Castellaneta, the director of the CPI is Carmine Calandriello, hired through a competitive exam in 2021, when he also became a Democratic Party city councilor in Pisticci. In Grottaglie, however, the new director is Simona Zecca: she is the wife of the mayor of San Marzano di San Giuseppe, Francesco Leo, who was elected with a center-left civic coalition. She has someone who understands her in the office, given that among her colleagues is also the wife of the mayor of Grottaglie, Simona Orlando...

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