Italy’s state barbers’ pay trimmed…to €99,000

The salary trim is part of long-standing plans put forward by Laura Boldrini, parliamentary president, and Senate President Pietro Grasso, Tgcom24 reported on Tuesday.

Under the proposals staff at the Italian parliament and senate will be able to earn a maximum of €240,000 a year, equal to the recent wage cap for public sector managers.

With the current structure, barbers and other workers – including electricians and switchboard operators – can earn €136,000 after 40 years of service. A usual salary is around €30,000, plus €5,300 in social security contributions, which climbs to more than €50,000 after a decade in the job, the Today news site reported.

Around 1,000 people will be affected by the salary cuts, including secretaries who will see their incomes reduced from €156,000 to €115,000. The reforms will take until 2018 to implement, Tgcom24 said.

Total spending by parliament was cut by €50 million between 2012 and 2014, according to government figures.