Plot twist on pensions. This morning, during the last government-union meeting before the approval of the maneuver, the Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, presented a series of proposals which constitute a further opening compared to the measures put on the table last week.
THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS
The document presented by the Government to the trade unions states that the Executive agrees on the need to give priority to the discussion on the issue of "social sustainability of pension schemes for young people in order to ensure the adequacy of medium-low pensions in the contributory scheme with reference to both early and old-age pensions”.
The government also undertakes to use any savings on theSocial bee to guarantee access also to the "new categories of burdensome activities" which rise to 15 from the previous 11.
As for women, the Executive undertakes to guarantee the extension of the access requirements to the Ape social "for female workers with children, in order to start the process of overcoming gender inequality and give initial recognition to the social value of care work and of maternity performed by women".
Furthermore, the Government has included among the 15 categories that will be entitled to exemption from the adjustment to life expectancy (a mechanism that from 2019 will raise the retirement age to 67 for everyone) even “first smelting” steel workers, in addition to those "of second fusion and glass employed in the work at high temperatures not already included among the usurers".
After presenting the package of proposals, Gentiloni asked the CGIL, CISL and UIL to sign it, promising in exchange to block the text in Parliament. But he wasn't satisfied.
THE REACTION OF THE TRADE UNIONS
“We confirm the judgment of great insufficiency of the new text that the government has produced – said the secretary of the CGIL, Susanna Camusso, at the end of the last meeting – We are back to small interventions, to exceptions that make the social security system uncertain. As far as we are concerned, the pension dispute is still open. The CGIL announces the first mobilization for December 2 ".
Of a completely different opinion Anna Maria Furlan, leader of the Cisl: “We believe that the path that the government has proposed to us today and the synthesis that it has made of the work carried out for many months is absolutely positive “.
The general secretary of the Uil, Carmelo Barbagallo, stressed instead that "with the scarce resources available, the maximum was done".
The Minister of Labor, Giuliano Poletti, defended the Government's work: “We are convinced that the issue of social security has also taken on its rightful dimension with the preparation of a series of proposals that we have summarized in this document. There were further clarifications both for the category of heavy workers and on the declaration of intention and willingness to keep reflection open on the pension and social security situation of young people and on the situation of women. We keep open the possibility of dialogue and reflection”.
Meanwhile, theOrder of Actuaries, asking to be involved in the debate, wrote in a note that "technically, automatic adjustment cannot be abolished, but mechanisms can be found that make it more bearable".
