The National Council of the Italian Tobacconist Federation has decided to close the shutters, on a date to be determined, to protest against the obligation to check the customers’ green pass established by the Prime Minister’s Decree of 21 January. “We have started negotiations with the government – said the national president of the Italian Tobacconists Federation, Giovanni Risso – and we will soon meet the undersecretary of health Andrea Costa who has shown attention to our demands”. If the government does not listen, the strike “will be inevitable”.
“We understand the importance of the Green Pass as an obstacle to the spread of infections and, above all, as a stimulus to vaccination even for the most recalcitrant”, continued Risso. “So we do not make it a matter of principle but of common sense – he stressed – because 13 million Italians enter the tobacconist’s a day not only to buy cigarettes but, above all, to pay bills, collect a package or buy bus tickets. Customers who, already now, with the current rules and given the small size of the Italian tobacconists, enter one at a time, patiently respecting their turn. How can you not imagine what the obligation to check the Green Pass will bring? Is it possible not to see that rather than queuing to buy a pack of legal cigarettes, we will turn to the clandestine market, in the hands of those who are certainly not interested in the possession of the green pass? How can – insists the national president Fit – not keep in the right consideration the risk to which tobacconists will have to expose when leaving the counter, which is often armored for safety reasons? ”
“Tobacconists are neighborhood shops, they guard the territory in which they are historically rooted and the tobacconists all ensured, despite the rage of the pandemic, during the lockdown, essential services for all citizens”. “A commitment, ours, which is now ignored. But we are not there, our work, our sense of responsibility must be taken into consideration. We will reiterate it with absolute determination to the Undersecretary of Health, Andrea Costa who, we hope, will understand our reasons. ” “If this were not the case, if the government did not listen to our voice, the strike will be inevitable. Tobacconists – concludes Giovanni Risso – will lower their shutters”.