Access

Editorial

Nature Neuroscience 11, 1361 (1 December 2008) | doi:10.1038/nn1208-1361

The plight of the precari

On October 15, the Italian lower house of Parliament passed legislature that will block the permanent hiring of nearly 2,000 contract-based research scientists, collectively known as 'precari'. The bill (which is to be further considered in 2009), intended to curtail public expenditure by shrinking the civil service, affects many scientists in Italy who are considered to be civil servants.