Civil servants will receive a salary increase of an average of 85 euros in their pay packet. This is the main change launched yesterday by the Council of Ministers, which approved five implementing decrees of the Madia reform on public administration. The other four concern the reorganization of the chambers of commerce, local public services, research institutions and the simplification measure Scia Bis.
The average figure for the wage increase for state workers emerged yesterday after the meeting between the Government and the representatives of the confederal trade unions – CGIL, CISL and UIL – to finalize the agreement for the unblocking of bargaining.
At this point, the minister explained to the social partners, the Executive intends to go on to the bitter end to reach an agreement that paves the way for the long-awaited renewal of contracts in the public sector, which have been on hold for seven years.
Madia therefore intends to convene the leaders of the three unions tomorrow. But for their part, the CGIL, CISL and UIL consider the figure of 85 euros acceptable only as a minimum increase, not as an average increase. Furthermore, the social partners would like to include the school sector in the agreement – limited up to now to ministerials only. Another point on which there is still no agreement with the Government.
The other most important obstacles to overcome are two: the stabilization of precarious workers and the overcoming of the Brunetta law. The rule, which dates back to 2009 and has never been applied (because it should have come into force with the first contractual round following the renewal, which has been frozen until now), would require the following scheme to be applied:
– half of the productivity budget to the 25% of state workers with the highest report cards;
– the other half to workers with medium standard performance, to be found in 50% of the total workforce;
– not even a euro for productivity, however, to the other 25% of workers who rank below standards.
Now, the government would like to focus on second-level wages, in particular on bonuses, but no union is willing to sign a renewal that allocates resources to bonuses if the constraints introduced by the Brunetta law are not first overcome, which would leave one million and half of state.
In the past, Madia said she was willing to cancel the merit brackets mechanism, but only if the unions propose another equally rigid evaluation criterion to avoid scattering bonuses.
The instrument for revising the regulatory part is the Consolidated Law on public work, expected in February. As for resources, the amount allocated in the maneuver (1,9 billion) is considered insufficient, because it should also cover the renewal of the 80 euros for the police and the new hires of the PA.
