all the government’s doubts – Corriere.it

In the Chamber still battle in the Labor Committee on the minimum wage by law. But in the end, on July 19, the vote on the amendment by the center-right majority which suppresses the bill to introduce the minimum of 9 euros gross per hour presented by the opposition parties (except Italia viva) is postponed to next Tuesday. In substance, little changes, because the majority, in line with the position expressed by the government, has the numbers to block the attempt of the centre-left, while the heated debate on the subject will continue precisely until the next meeting of the commission and then, we can bet, it will animate the electoral campaign next spring in view of the elections to the European Parliament. In any case, the oppositions are satisfied and claim the postponement. The Democratic Party, with Arturo Scotto, hopes that the majority will have the time to be able to review the position and definitively postpone the opprobrium of the suppressive. But the center-right reaffirms its intentions.

Government against

The government and the majority are against the introduction of the minimum wage by law, despite Italy being one of the few countries without it, because they argue that this would weaken bargaining, with the risk that companies renounce the contract settling at 9 euros, as the chairman of the Labor commission, Walter Rizzetto (FdI, reiterated yesterday). But there is also a part of businesses, particularly in the poor tertiary sector, which is against it, given that, as certified by Istat, there are 3.6 million employment relationships and 3 million workers who earn less than 9 euros an hour. And these are precisely the numbers raised by the centre-left to support the bill which, says Cecilia Guerra, does not weaken bargaining but rather provides for the extension to all workers in any sector of the overall economic treatment fixed in the contracts signed by the most representative unions.

Tajani and Schlein

But the leader of Forza Italia, Antonio Tajani, reiterates his no and broadens the field: We know very well that wages in Italy are low, but the solution is the rich wage, not the minimum wage. What is rich wages? The result of the cut in the tax wedge, the detaxation of premiums and thirteenths. The field is widened even further by the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, who yesterday in Palermo in via D’Amelio, the site of the Borsellino massacre, said: The fight against the mafias is not separated from what we are doing for quality work, for the minimum wage, to counter precariousness because the mafia feeds on blackmail.

Rizzetto’s change of mind

The leader of the Five Stars, Giuseppe Conte, who intervened in the commission on 19 July, if he took issue with both the premier and Rizzetto (in the Brothers of Italy since 2016), whom the Movement had brought to Parliament in 2013. Conte had an easy time reminding the president of the Labor commission that he was among the signatories of the bill that the Movement presented in 2014. And he accused Meloni of not assuming the responsibility to pay respect to those who take starving paychecks: we will continue the our battle in the courtroom, he concluded.