(Finance) – After a discussion that lasted over five hours at Palazzo Chigi, the positions of the unions remain “frozen” with CGIL and UIL confirming the general strike proclaimed for November 29th and the CISL appreciating the maneuver, as “many of the proposals” of the union led by Luigi Sbarra. At the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni12 trade unions participated.
“The government – said the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landiniat the end of the meeting – reconfirmed that what he presented in Parliament is the maneuver, that the margins are those, that the possible spaces for modification are limited” and “we confirm our opinion of a terrible budget law that does not gives a future to our country. For Landini, the wage increase for the public sector “cannot be the 6% proposed in the separate agreement, when inflation is 17%”https://www.Finance.it/DettaglioNews/191_2024-11-11_TLB/ “The only revenues that are confirmed, the only expenditure that is increased – said the general secretary of the CGIL – is that for weapons and that for defense. Even saying that they will fight in Europe to ask for this expense to be deducted from the stability pact. So why don’t we ask for it for healthcare? And why don’t we also ask for it for investments, for industrial policies, given that Is our industrial system in danger of falling apart?”.
“We confirm the strike because we have illustrated our demands and the government has illustrated the decisions it has taken, even if the Prime Minister has indicated her willingness to discuss the tax relief on contractual increases – said the general secretary of Uil, Pierpaolo Bombardieri, at the end of the unions’ meeting with the government on the budget law at Palazzo Chigi -. If the government decides to change the choices and summons us tomorrow, we will never shy away from the discussion. But today two different visions of the maneuver were reflected and, even with some availability, I don’t think there is the possibility of changing the choices that concern, not philosophy, but wages, pensions, very practical, very earthly things”. Bombardieri said he recognized that this government has put more money into healthcare than others, “but the ratio to GDP is always that”https://www.Finance.it/DettaglioNews/191_2024-11-11_TLB/.”We also gave Meloni a calculator – he added – because with that he might be able to do a more complex operation than with his mobile phone “.
“The Ugl positively evaluates the openness to dialogue shown by the Government on the next budget, despite being aware that some aspects could be improved – declared the general secretary of the Ugl, Paolo Capone –. The Budget law remains a good intervention in a social sense, starting from some measures such as the confirmation of the cut in Irpef and the tax wedge, which become structural, the support for working mothers, the incentive for second-level collective bargaining and the revaluation of pension benefits. At the same time – he continued – we believe that a further effort should be made on the health front, measures for the birth rate and resources to support local public transport”.
“We have expressed general appreciation for many measures contained in the budget law because they incorporate many proposals and demands that we have put forward as CISL in recent months”, even if “there are parts of the maneuver that in our opinion can and must still be changed and improved – said the leader of the CISL, Luigi Sbarra –. In particular, this structural cut in school staff must be eliminated, the partial block of turnover in local authorities, we have asked that the minimum pensions and the non-self-sufficiency fund can still be increased, we have said that taxes must be cut to the middle class, just as we have asked that the cut to the automotive fund be reconsidered. On the whole of these requests of ours, the ministers present expressed full availability to meet the union to discuss thematic issues and Prime Minister Meloni declared herself in agreement with these questions that we posed and invited the ministers to immediately open moments in-depth analysis with a view to finding solutions consistent with our requests, within and outside the scope of the manoeuvre”.
During today’s meeting – he commented Melons speaking in connection with the center-right demonstration in Bologna – “I took the opportunity to ask the unions who have called a general strike against the maneuver and the Government and in particular those who call for social revolt against the Government, with tones that have no precedent in trade union history, why they called the general strike today but didn’t do it when the unemployment rate was double that of today, when the employment rate was six points lower than today, when i Left-wing governments, instead of asking the banks for a contribution to help pay for measures in favor of workers as we did, instead used citizens’ and workers’ money to save the banks.
Meanwhile it is the deadline for submitting amendments to the maneuver has expired. A total of 4,562 amendment proposals were filed in the Chamber Budget Committee, of which over 1,200 from the majority groups. In particular, 501 come from Forza Italia, 428 from the League, 190 from Fratelli d’Italia and 142 from Noi Moderati. To these are added 2 amendments from the commissions and one from the government. On the other hand, 1,218 amendments arrived from the oppositions labeled M5s, 992 from the Pd, 354 from Avs, 130 from Azione, 282 from Italia Viva, 201 from the linguistic minorities group, 45 from +Europa, 76 from Misto.