Italy: Factory workers donate holidays to let colleague retire early

Newswire

Rome: An Italian factory worker suffering from a cognitive impairment that made his job increasingly difficult received an unexpected Christmas present thanks to the solidarity of his colleagues.

Alfredo Lupi, a 64-year-old janitor at the Senna Inox factory near Lodi in northern Italy, had begun struggling with his daily tasks however he was still more than two years off retirement.

Retiring early would mean losing his old-age pension for which he needed at least 20 years of contributions and to reach the age of 67, reports news agency ANSA.

When his 50 co-workers became aware of his situation, they pitched in and donated their ferie, or holiday time, to help ‘Alfredino’ across the finish line.

Some offered 15 days, some 20, and some 30: between them they pooled a total of 246 days.

Based on his contract, the days donated were equivalent to 433 days, which corresponded to 20 months, surpassing the 20-year contribution limit.

These 20 donated months will bring Alfredino up to 66 years, with the final missing year covered by the Senna family that owns the pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.

This means that he will stay on the company books until he receives his old age pension at 67.

One of his co-workers, identified as Piera, described Alfredino to La Repubblica newspaper as “definitely the mascot, the father, the grandfather, the brother, the uncle of us all.”

Employees at the factory recently gathered after work one evening to give the good news to a stunned Alfredino who retired – days before Christmas – thanks the kindness of his colleagues.