The CNEL ditches the minimum wage by law: the investigation launched by the National Council of Economy and Labor, chaired by Renato Brunetta, ended with a negative verdict. In fact, he was voted with alone no from the CGIL andUil's abstention the document from the CNEL Information Commission which rejects the definition of a minimum wage by law of 9 euros. The commission's objections will most likely be accepted by the CNEL assembly which will pronounce its opinion on 12 October. The dossier, which will then be sent to the government, will allow Giorgia Meloni to definitively reject the proposal put forward by the Democratic Party, by the M5S and to which Carlo Calenda of Azione gave his support but not Matteo Renzi's Italia Viva.
What does the CNEL verdict say against the minimum wage by law
There are essentially three points on which the CNEL commission's decision is based:
- “In the public debate – we read in the CNEL document – working poverty is often linked to insufficient wages, while this is the result of a process that goes well beyond the salary and which concerns working times (i.e. how many hours one usually works per week and how many weeks one is employed in the course of a year), the family composition (and in particular how many people receive an income within the household) and the redistributive action of the State". “Much more “useful and urgent” would be “a national action plan, in the terms of the European directive on adequate wages, to support an orderly and harmonious development of the collective bargaining system”.
- The collective bargaining coverage rate is close to "100 percent: a percentage far higher than the 80%" set by the EU. Average wages are in line with European parameters: 7,10 euros per hour, based on 2019 Istat data.
- The low incidence of pirated contracts, which would affect 0,4% of employees in the private sector (with the exception of agriculture and domestic workers) compared to 96,5% of those guaranteed by collective agreements signed by CGIL, CISL and UIL.
The reactions: Minister Calderone satisfied, opposition from the Democratic Party
The Minister of Labor Maria Elvira Calderone is satisfied: "The important thing is to ensure decent working conditions for people", she comments. For Maurizio Landini "it was a mistake to dump the issue on the CNEL", according to the president of Confindustria of industrialists Carlo Bonomi we need "a truth operation".
The minority parties are ready to do battle: by relaunching the collection of signatures for the minimum wage, on the one hand. And, on the other hand, immediately resuming the examination of bill signed by Pd, M5S, Action and Avs which in August the majority had asked to be suspended pending verification by the CNEL. “At that point, if the right rejects it, they will have to take responsibility and explain it to the country,” says Carlo Calenda.
“We will continue the battle, it serves those three and a half million workers who are poor and it is not an acceptable fate,” comments the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein. On Sunday the Democratic Party will be present with banquets throughout Italy to give impetus to the popular petition. “On October 8th we will launch the signature day and I will be with you, first in Foggia, then in Naples, then in Rome”, writes Giuseppe Conte of the M5S on social media. A way, also, to raise the pressure in view of the parliamentary fight.
On 17 October our proposal will return to the Chamber for a vote, says the PD Arturo Scotto: "The right will have to say whether it agrees or not, in light of the sentence of the Cassation which reiterates the need for a legal and constitutional minimum wage." But the president of the Labor commission, Walter Rizzetto (FdI), warns him: "We are considering intervening with majority proposals" on the basis of the Cnel's observations. In this way the Pd-M5S bill should stop and return to the commission and then end up at the end of the budget session on the 2024 budget.
