(Finance) – “In our country there are collective agreements signed with minimum wages clearly below the poverty line. For some time we have been proposing to identify the national reference contracts for each production sector with the relative minimum wages as the only viable path, eliminating contractual dumping and unfair competition between companies and the use of pirate contracts that impoverish the pockets of Italian families. It is necessary to intervene by inserting a threshold of dignity, the result of a proportionate and sufficient remuneration to guarantee a dignified life for all workers “. This is what he said, theformer Minister of Labor Nunzia Catalfo, senator of the M5s in the Labor Commission at Palazzo Madama, during webinar “Objective work: from solid to liquid what is changing and how to intervene” promoted by the pension fund of accountants and accounting experts, chaired by Luigi Pagliuca.
“In terms of the quality of work – he continues Catalfo – we have developed the strengthening of the ‘new skills’ fund, which I set up, and the national plan we have proposed, which also provides for the possibility for the Regions to enter into agreements with training institutions and the establishment of training poles with a view to detect the needs of the market by making training courses consistent with the needs of businesses, filling the miss match that still exists in some sectors “.
“Innovation and employment – he said Antonio Viscomi, leader of the Democratic Party in the Labor Commission at Montecitorio – they must necessarily go hand in hand. There can be no new occupation without innovation. In Italy too many times we have chosen to proceed in the opposite way, reducing costs, starting with those on safety. And the results are there for all to see. We must focus on quality. Public support is needed on innovation, training and updating of skills. The rules of work must also change, starting with the determination of wages and products. We have been witnessing the wage issue for thirty years and today there is a lot of talk about minimum wages. A term that I don’t like, I’d rather talk about fair wages. Business successes are built on workers; it is from this perspective that we must start again. The work at this time is becoming more gaseous than liquid and this is not good. We link labor policies to industrial policies – concludes Viscomi – if we want to win the challenges of increasingly competitive markets. Enough with the attempts to stay in the market by cutting costs “.
“The reduction of the cost of labor and the tax wedge – he declared Graziano Musella, Forza Italia deputy in the Labor Commission of the Chamber – is absolutely a priority for our country, preferring measures that encourage companies not only to maintain employment levels but also to proceed with new hires. The interventions made in the past on issues related to the world of work at this time should be rethought by evaluating the possibility of intervening on the real economy instead of supporting welfare measures such as citizenship income. More stable work is needed than in the current situation. The stabilization of workers gives security to the country’s economy, so we must aim to expand the availability of the labor market. The minimum wage is an additional element once the world of work is stabilized with limits to be established in consultation with the trade union forces and overcoming a series of barriers. Reducing taxes to those who hire and lightening the tax burden on paychecks are the only measures capable of restarting the economy “.
“Our society has radically changed the economic drive has shifted from the concept of ownership and job stability to the concept of mobility of wealth and fluidity of work. The problem of job uncertainty – underlined Giorgio Trizzino, Deputy of Action in the Social Affairs Commission – it is not determined only by the inexistence of the minimum wage or by the instability of work but by the inability of society and politics to create the necessary training substrate that is capable of keeping up with the times. Our training schools are anachronistic, our universities do not accustom our young people to the new type of work that is on the market. Great professors do not enable young people to develop innovative career choices. If the labor market had been known by the experts and there had been less superficiality in addressing this issue we would not have had these surprises. The scandal is not the number of people accessing the basic income but the scandal lies in the fact that jobs continue to be created in the work areas where they are least needed. While the south remains abandoned without investments in both the public and private sectors “.
The point of view of the professionals was illustrated by Mario Chiappuella, accountant and auditor of the Odcec of Massa Carrara. “A progressive flexibility of work is translating into a strong uncertainty on incomes and, consequently, on consumption. In this context – he highlighted Chiappuella – the introduction of the minimum wage issue into the political debate has sparked a bitter debate between the proponents of benefits, from a social point of view, and those who stress the need to act with incentives for businesses rather than with welfare measures. In the meantime, among the various effects of the pandemic, an entirely new figure emerges in the labor market which has recorded the highest resignation rate in the last 20 years. Many workers, especially in the North, are reflecting on the future and are looking for jobs that can reconcile income and quality of life. On the other hand, we are witnessing the paradox of job requests that do not find answers in the market. A clear example that the real challenge is precisely that of combining fair wages and quality of life “.
“The four major issues around which the question of work in Italy revolves – he concluded Paolo Longoni, director of the CNPR – they are wages, the precariousness that is hidden behind a wrong interpretation of the concept of flexibility, the cost of labor with the eternal discussion of the reduction of the tax wedge and the issue of the need for innovation and quality. The employment crisis cannot be solved by addressing just one of these problems. We need to tackle them all together, in a circular way, with that concreteness that must be one of the main objectives of the policy “.