Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni angered unions today on her first Workers’ Day in power, when holding a Council of Ministers on a holiday and with a decree on labor matters that is not convincing as it is “temporary” and does not address precariousness, for which reason they threatened “mobilizations.”
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May Day is a particularly heartfelt day in a country, Italy, which this year celebrates the 75th anniversary of its Constitution, with which after the Second World War it was constituted as “a democratic Republic founded on work”.
However, Meloni, in power since October, decided to ignore the work calendar and hold a Council of Ministers to approve a controversial decree-law that reduces the tax burden on certain salaries only until the end of the year.
discord party
This decision was greeted with suspicion by the unions who believe that it is mere propaganda.
“Does the Government have to convene the Council of Ministers today, of all the 365 days of the year? Today is the Labor Party, not the Government’s. I claim the value of this day,” said the leader of the largest CGIL union , Maurizio Landini, from Potenza (south).
Then Meloni replied: “I am proud that the Government has decided to celebrate this day with factsnot with words”. He did it in a video because he avoided explaining the decree in a press conference.
The tension began to be glimpsed yesterday on the eve, a few minutes before the trade unionists were received in the Roman Chigi Palace, seat of the Executive, to learn the content of the reform.
Landini had branded a Council of Ministers on such an important day as “anti-educational”, to which Meloni replied that there are many people who work, including -he added ironically- the technicians who today will make possible the union concert in the Plaza de San Juan de Lateran of Rome.
However, during the meeting, the Prime Minister assured them more conciliatoryly that she did not intend to offend but rather send “a message” and that, far from being controversial, she had expected congratulations.
Less tax burden on payroll
The decree establishes, among other things, a reduction in the tax wedge, that is, the difference between the salary paid by an employer and what the worker pockets, but only for the remainder of the year, a validity that the unions see “insufficient”.
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Specifically, a reduction in the tax burden of 7 percent will be applied (until now it was 3 percent) to payrolls of up to 25,000 euros per year and 6 percent (previously it was 2 percent) to those of 35,000 euros, which will allow a salary increase of about 100 euros in both cases .
These measures will be financed with the deficit deviation of 3,400 million euros in 2023 approved this week in Parliament, within the Economy and Finance Document (DEF), the Executive’s economic strategy for the coming years.
“The tax wedge cut will give up to 100 euros more in payroll at a time like this of rampant inflation. I can’t understand those who create controversy even about this,” Meloni said.
Protest
The three main unions in the country held the traditional May Day unitary demonstration in Potenza, in the impoverished south of Italy, and as soon as they started, they already warned that “the government’s measures are not going in the requested direction.”
The leader of the UIL, Pierpaolo Bombardieri, lamented that “the answers are wrong given the excessive precariousness and little security” of the Italian labor market and, although he accepted the cut in the tax wedge, he criticized that it is only temporary.
The secretary of the CISL, Luigi Sbarra, was more open to dialogue, who advocated dialogue between the parties to achieve “shared reforms”.
“We want to believe that the Executive wants to do it but while we will not be quiet,” he warned, to later confirm the maintenance of the next protests in Bologna, Milan (north) and Naples (south).
EFE
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