“In a period of great changes, one must be open to innovation”. Thus Giovanni Sabatini, general manager of ABI, at the opening of the conference organized by the association of banks on the topic of human resources in the sector. A key concept, declined in every part of his speech. In the first place with reference to the national contract for the category, signed in January, and which is being voted on throughout Italy in recent weeks.
The new national contract. “Our contract presents many innovations compared to the past, and this was possible also thanks to the unions who understood that the situation has changed. Today we are faced with a more complex economic system, which requires structural changes". “In some ways – admitted the general manager – it is a question of worsening, especially if one considers the ever-increasing volatility of the markets and the sovereign debt crisis”. The new collective agreement therefore responds to these needs. But the challenge concerns the whole system.
Labor reform. A phase which presents critical elements and which imposes courageous even if unpopular choices. Like that of the labor market, wanted by the Monti government. “We appreciate the government's effort to modernize the country. In particular, the key points of the labor reform which will bring greater flexibility, both incoming and outgoing, and a new balance in the system of social safety nets". “These are – he added – shared objectives”.
At the opening of the works also the interventions of Giancarlo During, director of the trade union management of the ABI, who asked for a greater effort to avoid a "generational rift" among the workers, focusing his intervention on the progressive aging of the population, recalling the alarm raised in recent days by the International Monetary Fund.
It welcomes the pension reform Antonio Mastrapasqua, president of INPS, a necessary step towards the direction of regulatory simplification and a pension system that has "clear and valid regulations for all". "The new pension system asks the worker to work more, but it also makes him more free to choose how much more to work in relation to how much he has set aside and how much he needs".
Contributions to the debate have also come from the academic world. Professor Carlo Dell'Aringa of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart highlighted some new elements in the world of work. The data available to him showed an increase in the demand for labor against a substantial stability in supply. “This means – said Dell'Aringa – that the category of the discouraged, those who were not looking for work out of resignation, have started looking for it again. This is additional work, motivated by the ever greater need on the part of families to have more and more scarce resources. It is the latest symptom of an increasingly urgent need to create jobs. To grow as a system. And not 1%, as the EU has, but at least 2%”. Objective necessary to prevent the country from slipping into the screwing mechanism.
