Calenda defends the minimum wage bill. The debate with the Sheet

“The minimum wage is not the panacea for all ills. We have always waged a battle against the rigidity of contracts. But today, with a scenario of high inflation affecting low incomes, an equally clear discourse is needed: workers must be paid decently”. As Charles Calendain dialogue with Luciano Capone on the Instagram page of the Foglio, he motivates the unitary law proposal signed by the oppositions (with the exception of Italia Viva) on the minimum wage, filed today in the Chamber. According to the leader of Action, there are two fundamental points: “We have set a threshold at 9 euros, but there are 12 months to implement the proposal and adjust the contracts that are under 9 euros, unlike what the M5s wanted. Furthermore, this minimum wage is not indexed, because otherwise it would have led to a run-up between prices and wages, risking creating an inflationary spiral”. The proposal therefore prefigures the creation of a commission with representatives of the institutions and the social partners to adjust the minimum salary from time to time.

Calenda himself, sharing an article in the Foglio on social media at the time, had commented ironically: “All we need is for Rocco Casalino to set the level of the minimum wage”. Nevertheless, in the current proposal there is a fixed threshold of 9 euros. Why not entrust the evaluation ex ante to a commission? “Time to process and adjust contracts added to the time it would take for a committee to work would delay the minimum wage by at least three years, we can’t afford that. The emergency of low wages associated with inflation has radically changed the scenario today. Wages are not just any figure, but determine living conditions: there is a very high number of people close to absolute poverty. It is an emergency problem that becomes a social problem”.

However, the minimum wage, warns Calenda, “does not solve the problem of in-work poverty”. According to the head of Action, the proposal is “a small piece of a much broader strategy: enterprise 4.0, i.e. the use of Pnrr funds to stimulate entrepreneurs to convert profit margins into investments; a minimum wage built with the updating of national contracts; agencies that provide training to 580,000 profiles in demand on the job market”. And, on the possibility of a response from the majority, Calenda adds: “The government seems to agree on training by private agencies and on companies 4.0: let’s discuss it, because we cannot turn a blind eye”.

Finally, there is a political question. On other issues, such as justice reform, Calenda’s party supported the government’s action. Is it easier to dialogue with the majority or with the rest of the opposition? “Depends. On an issue like nuclear energy, for example, it is more profitable to work with the government. The general discussion with the opposition is tainted by one issue: the M5 stands outside of any type of dialogue because of the Ukraine question. In any case, the problem isn’t so much thinking in the same way: the problem is that nobody does shit at all”.