The protest by the staff of the Cagliari Astronomical Observatory continues against the behavior of the Management and the Board of Directors of INAF in the procedure for creating the ORA.
Despite requests for discussion and analysis of possible alternatives for coordinating Italian radio astronomy without resorting to complicated and potentially inefficient mergers, the procedures for evaluating candidates for the role of director of the future ORA (which have never been made public) are proceeding quickly.
The staff of the Cagliari Observatory, continuing to express their strong opposition to the creation of the ORA, is therefore continuing in their state of agitation, the first significant effect of which is being seen these days.
The withdrawal of availability to perform night and holiday work, essential to ensure the full functionality of SRT, has indeed caused SRT not to participate in the European interferometric observing run taking place these days starting from today.
A difficult decision by the staff of the Observatory who, after proving over the past year that they are capable of ensuring the full operation of the antenna, have found themselves forced to forgo reaping the fruits of so much work to give maximum visibility to the protest against a merger process that is not shared and not adequately discussed with the parties involved.