Draft:Italian Dopolavoro Ferroviario

Associazione Nazionale Dopolavoro Ferroviario

Abbreviation	DLF
Founded	1925
Founder	Italian State Railways Italian trade unions
Type	NPO
Legal status	Active
Headquarters	Rome, Italy
Members	72,000 (in 2023)
President	Giuseppe Tuscano
Website	dlf.it

The Italian Dopolavoro Ferroviario (DLF) is a non-profit organisation in Italy that is still active today, founded on October 25, 1925, by the Italian State Railways and Italian trade unions.

The DLF's national headquarters is located in Rome and continues the work of the previously existing DLF central office within the Italian State Railways, which has since been dissolved.

The members of the DLF consist of various local chapters, which include active and retired railway workers, their families, and external members.

Today, the Dopolavoro Ferroviario possesses a substantial heritage that includes social offices, sports facilities, recreational areas, green spaces, and hotel structures. This heritage is currently recorded in the balance sheet of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI). It has been built over time through resources from the DLF chapters and its members, with interventions regulated by Article 45 of Italian Law 668/1977, and through other investments made by the DLF between 1995 and 2002, amounting to 34,338,000 euros.

The DLF has joined USIC, the International Railway Sports Association. This affiliation marks an important step in promoting and developing sports activities among railway workers at an international level, fostering collaboration and the exchange of experiences among different countries. Through this membership, the DLF is committed to supporting sports events and initiatives that enhance sports as a means of bringing together and promoting well-being for railway employees and its members.

History

Founders

The Dopolavoro Ferroviario was established by Italian Royal Decree No. 1908 on October 25, 1925, as an internal structure of the Italian State Railways, named "Ufficio Centrale del Dopolavoro Ferroviario". Its purpose was to "promote the healthy and productive use of free time by railway workers" (Art. 1).

The central office was responsible for recognising all local structures that were already operating in the field of leisure activities for railway workers. According to Article 7 of the Royal Decree, the recognition of the central office was "subject to the evaluation of the purposes of the institutions and the presentation of the statute, the list of members, the budgets, and the supporting documents of the work carried out."

These structures would later become the DLF local chapters, whose organisation would be gradually regulated by laws, ministerial decrees, and company provisions.

Early years: from 1935

By 1935, ten years after its establishment, the Dopolavoro Ferroviario had already grown to 273 chapters throughout Italy and had 135,000 members, who contributed to its various activities through their membership fees.

During those years, the activities primarily focused on social assistance for families (e.g., the Befana event for employees' children is well-known) and the management of typical sports and cultural activities, including professional training courses, excursions in Italy and abroad, libraries, and "radio" and "cinema" centers. Groups of DLF members engaged in raising poultry and cultivating land adjacent to railway facilities (approximately nine million square meters). Railway stations were beautified by DLF members who took care of the flowerbeds and furnishings.

In the challenging post-war period, as the railways and the entire country were being rebuilt, the desire for participation and novelty led to activities that confirmed the Dopolavoro Ferroviario as the most important leisure organisation, to the extent that it was not absorbed by the ENAL (Ente Nazionale Assistenza Lavoratori), which occurred for the Opera Nazionale del Dopolavoro in 1945. This is why the DLF still exists today. It maintained its name and autonomy and received specific recognition from the Italian Ministry of the Interior in 1947, reserved for national entities with social assistance purposes.

Areas and buildings of the Italian State Railways were assigned to the DLF either de facto or through handover reports, and this matter would later be subject to comprehensive regulation through ministerial decrees issued in accordance with Italian Law 668 of July 27, 1967.

Reform of statutes from the 1970s

From 1970 to 1990, the Dopolavoro Ferroviario, as an internal structure of the Italian State Railways, underwent significant transformations. Greater autonomy was granted to the DLF chapters with the reform of the statutes in 1972, which remained in effect until 1995. This period saw a substantial enhancement of the DLF through significant investments in sports facilities, social headquarters, and tourist and recreational structures. The management of railway canteens by the DLF expanded almost everywhere, with important investments in canteen buildings and facilities. The canteens managed by the DLF were characterized by high-quality service and menu selection, directly overseen by representatives of the railway workers. This service remained under DLF management until 2009 when, following a public tender, it was awarded to a private sector operator.

Transformation into an Association

On May 10, 1995, the Italian trade unions and Italian State Railways, in relation to the reform of the Autonomous Company of the Italian State Railways and its transformation into a joint-stock company, established the Associazione Nazionale DLF, an organisation that was legally recognised as a continuation of the pre-existing "Ufficio Centrale DLF," which was thus dissolved. The transformation of the DLF into an association had already occurred at the local level with the 1972 reform. A specific ministerial decree defined the model statute for the DLF chapters; it was already of an associative type, as subsequently established by numerous judicial rulings, including those of the Court of Cassation.

The Early 2000s

In 2000, Italian State Railways communicated to the Associazione Nazionale DLF that the properties previously used by the DLF (social headquarters, recreational spaces, sports facilities, and green areas) had become subjects of valorization and would no longer be granted to the DLF free of charge, as had been the case for the previous 75 years. This was a very difficult and, in some respects, dramatic moment for the life of the Association. The immediate problem was how to ensure that the territorial DLF chapters had access to the real estate necessary to carry out their activities. This was indeed the primary requirement for the existence and life of the Dopolavoro Ferroviario: without social headquarters and sports facilities, the DLF was destined to close. The DLF managed to engage the Italian Parliament on this issue, which expressed its opinion on November 21, 2001, July 30, 2003, and December 15, 2005, through three distinct documents. These approved resolutions allowed for the prevention of the "privatization" of the real estate, built with resources from the DLF itself, its members, and resources from railway workers as per Article 45 of Italian Law 668, through sale to third parties. In this context, having averted the risk of alienation of the properties, the DLF, faced with the concrete risk of having to close the Dopolavoro Ferroviario, decided to pay regular rental fees for the properties and to purchase some of them. To this end, from 2003 to 2018, over 90 million euros were paid in rental fees and purchases to the Italian State Railways Group companies.

On November 21, 2001, the Senate of the Republic, after a specific discussion and with the favourable opinion of the government, approved the following order of the day during the conversion into law of Italian Decree 351/2001 regarding the securitisation of real estate.

"The Senate, noting that among the assets recorded in the balance sheet of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A. are included the sports facilities, social headquarters, and recreational and associative spaces owned by the Dopolavoro Ferroviario, and that these assets were created with resources from the Dopolavoro Ferroviario and its members over the 75 years of the Dopolavoro Ferroviario's existence; considering the opportunity to safeguard the legitimate property and legal interests of the Dopolavoro Ferroviario and its members accrued in relation to the investments made, commits the government: in the application of the law and the issuance of the relevant decrees and provisions, to work towards the protection of the uniqueness of the Dopolavoro Ferroviario and the social purposes of the assets in concession, as well as to promote the continued presence of the Dopolavoro in these properties, ensuring that any entities that may take over their ownership guarantee the possibility of purchase by the Dopolavoro, taking into account the contributions made by the Dopolavoro with its own resources."

See also

• Italian State Railways