La maneuver it is not yet law, but the Government is already looking at "phase two" of its mandate. One of the key interventions of 2012 will be labor reform, announced yesterday by the Minister of Welfare, Elsa Fornero, in an interview with Corriere della Sera. The words of the professor, whom she urged not to consider article 18 of the Workers' Statute a "totem" (the one that prevents dismissals without just cause), immediately sparked controversy on the front of the social partners. If the president of Confindustria, Emma Marcegaglia, shared the need for an intervention in the world of work, words of bitter controversy against the minister came from the secretaries of the major confederal trade unions.
MARCEGAGLIA: ARTICLE 18 IS NOT TABOO, REFORM IS NEEDED
According to the leader of the industrialists, "in a situation like this, as Minister Fornero said, there are no more totems or taboos, nor preconceived closures". Confindustria will sit down at the table "for a serious and pragmatic negotiation" and "with the will to work and collaborate" to achieve the reform of the labor market. It is necessary to “increase outgoing flexibility and we are open to some reductions in incoming flexibility”.
“The social safety nets need to be reviewed in part”, Marcegaglia said again, because “there cannot be a plan that attributes the cost of the allowances only to companies. As in all countries there may be part of the cost to companies, but part of the costs must be public unemployment benefits”.
CGIL, CAMUSSO: ARTICLE 18 RULE OF CIVILIZATION
“It is not a totem, but a norm of civilization”. Thus the leader of the CGIL, Susanna Camusso, replies to Minister Fornero. Still from the columns of the Corriere della Sera, Camusso launched a "challenge: let's make precarious work cost more than permanent work and we bet that no one will ever say that the problem is article 18?".
As for the single contract, “it would be a new apartheid to the detriment of young people: if we do an analysis of reality we see that precariousness exists above all where article 18 does not apply, in small companies. So this whole discussion is based on a false assumption."
BONANNI: DON'T TOUCH ARTICLE 18, PAYING PRECARIOUS PEOPLE MORE
The general secretary of the CISL, Raffaele Bonanni, said he was "very worried" because "12 hours after the approval of the maneuver, they are already stirring up a matter that is known to create problems. The government must make flexible work pay more. Let's challenge ourselves on the fact that whoever is more flexible pays more and whoever is less flexible pays less. Precariousness is the result of poorly paid flexibility”.
In short, “I really don't understand this story – continued Bonanni speaking to the trade unions in Piazza Montecitorio against the maneuver – it seems that they want to incite protest and this is not what a caretaker government was supposed to do. Mrs. Fornero who is a schoolteacher should know that without a higher salary you can't have more contributions".
ANGELETTI: UNJUST MANEUVER, FORWARD WITH MOBILIZATION
The number one of the Uil, Luigi Angeletti, still refers to the maneuver: “We are not resigned to letting things unfold according to the logic that the current government would like. This is a maneuver that has everything but justice ”.
