EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES FOR THE PROMOTION OF EMPLOYMENT, IN PARTICULAR FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, AND SOCIAL COHESION
As known, ANIA actively participated in the open discussion on the various issues addressed by the law 92/2012, of the reform of the labor market, not failing to point out the existence of room for improvement both as regards "exit flexibility" , both in terms of measures aimed at facilitating the entry of young people into the world of work, an issue which constitutes one of the priorities of the decree-law which is the subject of this Hearing.
From this point of view, the allocation of resources (provided for by Article 1, in the form of tax breaks or incentives for the benefit of companies) to encourage new permanent hires, as well as transformations from fixed-term to temporary of employment contracts concerning young people who find themselves in a "precarious" working situation or who are entering the world of work for the first time (subjects who have been unemployed for more than six months or do not possess particular qualifications or in particular family situations) .
However, while understanding the well-known budget constraints imposed by the European Union, we must underline the fact that, in the immediate future, it will be necessary to think of structural measures which, in expanding the range of action of the current provisions, also include figures with more high professionalism in order, in fact, to further promote the relaunch of employment.
For example, the additional contribution introduced by the Fornero law on fixed-term employment could be lightened (1,4%), a contribution which in any case should be fully returned to the employer who proceeds with the stabilization of the worker (currently the refund operates for a maximum of 6 months), together with the granting of further tax and social security benefits, to be defined on the basis of available resources.
With regard to the institution of professionalizing apprenticeship, the measures of an extraordinary nature contained in art. 2 of decree-law 76/2013, aimed at confirming this type of contract as a typical way of entering the world of work, may be useful, pending a desired uniform definition of the public training offer throughout the national territory.
In the opinion of the Association, however, it is necessary that the measures envisaged in this regard are not limited to micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises and can instead exert their effectiveness also with reference to those large companies which frequently have workplaces in multiple regions.
Even the measures adopted on the subject of training and orientation internships (art. 2), although aimed at removing some of the causes that have so far limited their use by companies, will hopefully have to be implemented to arrive at a possibly homogeneous discipline throughout the national territory.
PROVISIONS REGARDING EMPLOYMENT, EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL SECURITY RELATIONSHIPS
As regards the "correctives" to the law 92/2012, contained in the art. 7 of the provision in question, ANIA believes that changes must be made in relation to the discipline of fixed-term contracts and the regulation of bilateral Solidarity Funds.
With regard to fixed-term contracts, in agreement with the other main business organisations, it is hoped that an extraordinary measure will be adopted which will allow easier use of this contractual institution to liberalise, until 30 June 2016, the stipulation of fixed-term contracts "acausal" fixed-term contracts subject to the sole constraint of the overall maximum duration of the employment relationship of 36 months.
With regard to the bilateral Solidarity Funds, there is confidence in measures aimed at speeding up the use of these social safety nets by those companies that have restructuring/reorganization processes underway that envisage repercussions on workers.
With regard to fixed-term work, it should be noted, in general, that the "acausal" hypothesis of a fixed-term contract, so-called additional to that provided for by the Fornero law (Article 7, paragraph 1), cannot, in the opinion of the Association, be entirely referred to collective bargaining. This circumstance, in fact, runs the risk of not allowing an immediate exercise of said possibility (as was probably the intention of the provision for the purpose of relaunching employment) and of postponing the effectiveness of the regulation in the medium term.
Furthermore, the problem of coordination between the provisions governing the so-called "acausal" fixed-term contract and the "contingency clauses" already declined by the vast majority of collective labor agreements is not addressed in any way. In other words, it should be clarified that the case of "acausality" is added to those already envisaged by the existing collective bargaining, with the consequence that the maximum hiring percentages contained in the same CCNLs do not in any way include said hypothesis of a contract term "acausal". Also in this case, this orientation is motivated by the desire to favor any possible means of facilitating the entry of young people into the world of work.
The abrogation of the prohibition of extension of the "acausal" contract is positively evaluated by the Association; however, the wording of the rule leaves doubts on the possibility or not of extending the "acausal" contract originally introduced by the Fornero law beyond twelve months.
Some delicate problems arise, for the insurance sector, in relation to the discipline of the bilateral Solidarity Funds as amended by the so-called Fornero reform. The corrections made by the decree law in question (art. 7, paragraph 5, letter c), in fact, do not resolve some issues that the Association has repeatedly raised in parliamentary and governmental headquarters and, most recently, also on the occasion of recent meetings with the competent departments of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies.
In particular, as regards the adaptation process of the pre-existing Solidarity Funds to Law 92/2012, it should be clarified that the related inter-ministerial decree, transposing the trade union agreement with which one has adapted to said law, "has a non-regulatory”, as already envisaged for other sectors. If this were not the case, there would be very negative consequences on the timing of the issuing of the decree and, consequently, on all possible measures to support the income of workers involved in company restructuring/reorganisation processes, which can also have effects on employment levels, put in place before the issuance of the decree in question.
In this regard, we understand that the Ministry of Labor intends to clarify these aspects in this sense and, therefore, it is desirable that in the legislative framework it is possible to intervene in the conversion process of the decree-law.
It is also necessary to guarantee - in the transition from the pre-existing Solidarity Funds to those "adapted" to the law reforming the labor market - continuity in management; therefore, a provision of law is indispensable which provides that the Administrative Committees of the Funds, the only Bodies responsible for the relative management, remain "in office" until the new reconstitution, thus eliminating the legal limit of the prorogatio of only 45 days (starting from the date settlement at the INPS), an extension which in fact proved to be insufficient to guarantee such continuity. In the absence of the above, there would in fact be a total block on the operations of the Funds and the consequent impossibility of intervening, where necessary, in favor of the employees affected by corporate restructuring and reorganization processes.
Finally, we agree on the provision of article 10 paragraph 2 which allows - in the presence of an imbalance in the management of pre-existing pension funds - the institutional sources to re-determine the discipline, in addition to the financing, also of the benefits, with reference both to the annuities in payment and to future ones. In our opinion, it is a priority that the funds are in balance and that this happens through the comparison between the so-called institutional sources.
PROVISIONS REGARDING VALUE ADDED TAX (VAT) AND OTHER URGENT MEASURES
Finally, we underline the appreciation for the intervention implemented by means of art. 11 of this decree-law, whose paragraph 8, replacing the art. 6-novies of the decree-law n. 43 of 2013, eliminated the previously unjustified situation of unequal tax treatment between, on the one hand, public contributions for the reconstruction of residential buildings and buildings for productive use destroyed or damaged by the seismic events of 20 and 29 May of last year and, on the other hand, indemnities and insurance compensation.
The new version of the art. 6-novies provides for - in favor of companies located in the Municipalities affected by seismic events - the detaxation, for the purposes of income taxes and IRAP, of contributions, indemnities and compensation relating to the damage caused by such events and "verified with sworn expertise".
It is believed that this measure - which equalizes the treatment, for tax purposes, of compensation and indemnities from insurance sources with contributions for reconstruction from public sources - could constitute an effective measure to support the promotion of insurance policies against catastrophe risk natural, the diffusion of which, as is known, brings undeniable benefits for public finance balances (by narrowing the area of companies without insurance coverage and, as such, destined to rely on public funds).
