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Vatican Museums Staff Challenge The Pope With A Legal Bid For Better Terms And Treatment

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ROME — In an uncommon public challenge to Pope Francis’ leadership, 49 Vatican Museums employees have launched a class-action complaint with the Vatican administration, asking for higher seniority, leave, and overtime benefits.

The complaint, dated April 23 and published this weekend in Italian newspapers, also claimed that staff faced health and security hazards as a result of cost-cutting and apparent profit-generating activities at the museum, such as congestion and fewer security guards to keep tourists at bay.

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Vatican Museums Staff Challenge The Pope With A Legal Bid For Better Terms And Treatment

An email seeking comment received no response from the Vatican spokesman or Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, chief of the City State administration that oversees the museums.

The complaint is the latest judicial challenge highlighting how the Vatican’s laws, regulations, and procedures frequently conflict with Italian and European principles. Recently, civil and criminal cases have revealed how employees, particularly lay Italian nationals, have little or no legal recourse outside the city state’s unique court system, an absolute monarchy in which Francis wields supreme executive, legislative, and judicial power.

Museum employees cited the Catholic Church’s social teaching and Francis’ appeals to employers to respect workers’ dignity when requesting better treatment in the class-action complaint that senior Vatican attorney Laura Sgro filed and signed on behalf of the 49 employees.

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Vatican Museums Staff Challenge The Pope With A Legal Bid For Better Terms And Treatment

They sought, among other things, greater transparency about how staff might develop, the reinstatement of seniority bonuses, and the Vatican’s adherence to Italian sick-day policies. According to the complaint, employees are currently required to stay at home all day, rather than just a few hours, to await a potential visit to ensure that they are not simply taking the day off.

According to Vatican labor standards, Verzaga has 30 days to react to the allegation. If no talks commence, Sgro can take the claims to the Vatican’s labor office in an attempt to reach a negotiated settlement, which might lead to a tribunal. However, the office can refuse to hear the case, and lawyers say this happens frequently, leaving the employees with no other options.

In recent instances before the Vatican tribunal, lawyers have indicated that they may seek to take employees’ grievances about the system to the European Court of Human Rights. The Holy See is neither a member of the court nor a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, some lawyers believe the Vatican committed to maintaining European human rights standards when it ratified the European Union Monetary Convention in 2009.

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Vatican Museums Staff Challenge The Pope With A Legal Bid For Better Terms And Treatment

The Museums are one of the principal sources of money, funding the Holy See bureaucracy, which serves as the official authority for the Catholic Church. The museums, which have experienced significant financial losses as a result of COVID-19 closures and limitations, raised the price of a full-price ticket to 20 euros ($21.50) at the beginning of the year, up from 17 euros.

SOURCE – (AP)

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Returning to the UK a “No Go” for Prince Harry and Meghan

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A source close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claim that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle do not want to return permanently to the United Kingdom. Prince Harry will stay stationed in the United States, where he resides with his wife and their children.

It is known that worries about his and his family’s safety in the UK still exist.

According to the BBC, Prince Harry and Meghan are also unlikely to wish to abandon the business and charitable endeavours they developed while residing in the US.

There have been rumours of a disgruntled prince in California, who is getting close to turning forty and is unhappy with his life among the unrooted rich, trying to re-establish ties with his former life in the UK before he resigned as a working royal.

However, reliable sources have asserted a different story, stating that a return to royal life in the UK is not likely.

They contend that Prince Harry can visit the UK again and is just as capable of funding his charitable endeavours and charities from the US.

He flew back to the US after visiting the UK last week for his uncle’s memorial ceremony.

Claims that Prince Harry and Prince William had not talked throughout the church service in Norfolk, despite their growing frigid distance from one another, accounted for a large portion of the attention around the ceremony.

Prince Harry appeared to have maintained strong ties to the late Lord Robert Fellowes, who was Princess Diana’s brother-in-law on the Spencer side of the family.

The prince was spotted beside his Spencer family members during an Invictus Games service held at St. Paul’s Cathedral earlier this summer. Senior royals were not present at the event.

As soon as it was known that King Charles had cancer, the prince swiftly left for the UK, meeting briefly with his father in London.

There have also been excursions to London’s legal courts, when he fought the tabloids over allegations of illegal information collecting.

His security status in the UK is the subject of a continuing, intricate legal battle with the Home Office that has become a contentious topic in any conversation of a return.

The prince stated that he wouldn’t “bring my wife back to this country” in an interview with ITV because he was afraid for their safety.

But now that the pair has made such a public exit from royal life in the UK—in a Netflix movie and his book Spare—there will undoubtedly be speculative discussions about what will happen to them next.

Prince Harry and Meghan could reside anywhere in the virtual world if they didn’t have a royal duty; currently, that’s WFC (where they work from California).

In addition to their charitable endeavours, Meghan has teased a lifestyle cooking business on social media.

Though it is difficult to imagine they won’t want to stir up more than pots of jam given the impending US presidential election and the likelihood that topics they have brought up, including internet disinformation, would likely be debatable.

There have been other visits as well, most notably to Colombia, but they had so many of the hallmarks of a royal visit that it made one wonder whether they were actually travelling back to the world of the royals they were trying to leave behind.

There will be more inquiries about Prince Harry’s long-term future job as his 40th birthday draws near and there is a great deal of public curiosity.

Related News:

Prince Harry Opens Up About Emotional Distance in Royal Family

Prince Harry Opens Up About Emotional Distance in Royal Family

 

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Uk Weather: Thunderstorm warning for England and East Wales

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Uk Weather Thunderstorm warning for England and East Wales

Uk Weather: Forecasters have issued warnings for thunderstorms and heavy showers for Sunday, protecting a significant portion of England and portions of eastern Wales from the potential for severe weather.

According to the Met Office, the phenomenon could cause “a small chance of flooding and disruption” in some regions. At four o’clock British Summer Time, the yellow warning that urges people to “be aware” goes into effect, encompassing significant portions of southern England, the Midlands, and the north.

Forecasters are warning that thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected to develop in the southern region of England on Sunday morning and move northward during the day.

In England, the warning applies to a region located in the middle of the nation, stretching from the Isle of Wight to Newcastle upon Tyne. The warning has been issued for the counties of Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen, and Wrexham, which are located in the eastern part of Wales.

The Metropolitan Office has warned of flooding and stated that “frequent lightning strikes and hail will be additional hazards” across the southern and central regions of England.

The BBC Weather predicts that the United Kingdom will see a swarm of warm and humid air coming from the south-eastern direction until Sunday. In addition, a series of intense rainstorms will sweep northward over the central spine of England and east Wales.

In the event that these thunderstorms do materialize, there is a possibility that they will be accompanied by intense, gusty winds, lightning, and heavy rain. However, it is also possible that they may be fairly sporadic.

In spite of the fact that pinpointing the precise areas of these showers is rather difficult, it is recommended that you remain current with the most recent prediction since it is subject to change, as stated by BBC weather.

There is a possibility that temperatures may reach as high as 27 degrees Celsius in some regions of south-eastern England as a result of the warmer and more humid air. Temperatures will range from the low to the middle of the 20s Celsius in many locations.

Source: BBC

 

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UK Immigration Raids Increase Risks of Exploitation for Undocumented Migrants

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UK Immigration Raids Increase Risks of Exploitation for Undocumented Migrants

In a growing chorus of concern, over 80 charities, including prominent organizations like Care4Calais, City of Sanctuary UK, and Anti-Slavery International, have called on the Home Secretary to overhaul the UK’s immigration policies.

Their joint letter, coordinated by Migrant Voice, criticizes the government’s recent intensification of immigration raids and deportations, arguing that these measures are exacerbating the risks faced by undocumented migrants.

The letter, sent on Friday, highlights the increasing danger of exploitation faced by migrants who are driven further underground by aggressive enforcement actions.

These policies, they argue, not only fail to address the root causes of undocumented status but also make migrants more vulnerable to abuse by unscrupulous employers and human trafficking gangs.

On August 27, the Home Office announced the results of a week-long “intensive operation” targeting illegal working, which saw 275 premises investigated and 135 issued notices for employing undocumented workers.

Despite the government’s assertion that such operations aim to protect vulnerable individuals, the raids led to the detention of 85 “illegal workers.”

The situation has been compounded by a recent record-breaking deportation event. Earlier this month, the government deported over 200 individuals to Brazil, marking the largest single deportation flight on record.

Since the Labour government came to power, there have been at least nine such deportation charter flights.

Nazek Ramadan, Director of Migrant Voice, criticized the government’s approach, stating, “Immigration raids and deportations do not address the fundamental issue that many individuals become undocumented through no fault of their own.

Errors in paperwork or poor communication from the Home Office can result in people losing their status overnight.”

Ramadan advocates for a policy shift towards regularisation, arguing that it would be more cost-effective and beneficial for the economy than current detention and deportation practices.

“Rather than penalising people for their undocumented status, the government should simplify the process for them to regain documented status,” Ramadan suggested.

Many undocumented individuals have established lives and families in the UK, having lived in the country for years or even decades.

The letter contends that regularisation would not only reduce the financial burden of detention and deportation but also boost economic growth by enabling these individuals to contribute more fully to the economy.

“The raids are very traumatising,” Ramadan added. “People who are already vulnerable are becoming more so, retreating further underground. This policy has been tried and failed by many governments.

Regularisation offers a better solution, allowing people to come out of the shadows and live normal lives.”

The Home Office has been contacted for comment on the letter’s allegations and the ongoing concerns raised by the charities.

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