High-class errand boys

摘要

To earn €136,000 ($181,590), a browse of the internet suggests, you need to be an it operations director at a British firm, governor of New York state-or an usciere (usher) in the Italian parliament. An usciere's duties include carrying messages, accompanying visitors and looking dignified in uniforms laden with gold braid. The sole occupational hazard is of a punch in the eye while intervening in the occasional brawl between lawmakers. Now, however, the uscieri face a second danger: a cut in their salaries. In May, Matteo Renzi's government put a €240,000 cap on annual public-sector earnings. That will directly affect "only" about 130 of Italy's 2,300 parliamentary employees. But other salaries are to be reduced to keep pay differentials the same. Earnings of an usher nearing retirement are expected to drop over a three-year period from €136,000 to a miserly €100,000-105,000.