Renzi: wants to extend unemployment welfare benefits to workers not currently covered.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s success in staring down opposition from within his party over labour reform has delivered a symbolic political success but its impact on hiring and firing appears limited.
The top brass in prime minister’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) backed his proposals to change job protection rules by 130 votes to 20 late on Monday, despite angry opposition from party heavyweights Massimo D’Alema and Pierluigi Bersani.
The battle over labour regulations enshrined in Article 18 of the workers statute has been a heavily symbolic issue from the start, pitting unions and leftists determined to defend established rights against critics who say the system is unfair and deters companies from hiring new staff.
Under pressure from business leaders and European officials to deliver on his ambitious reform promises, Renzi chose to take on the left head-on and stake his credibility on the battle.
His apparent tough stance could help him convince the European Commission that debt-laden Italy is serious about shaking up its hide-bound economy and therefore deserves more flexibility with European Union budget rules.
However, the actual importance of Article 18 in day-to-day business is heavily disputed and details of what will actually change once the reform gets through parliament, probably not before next year, have still to be provided.
As things stand the proposed changes, which will not affect the public sector, will only apply to new hires, Filippo Taddei, the PD’s main economic spokesman told Reuters.
But with the package due in the Senate on October 7, one PD source who asked not to be named cautioned “this is an element which could change”.
The rules, which protect workers against unfair dismissal, currently only apply to companies that employ at least 15 workers, excluding the thousands of small firms that dominate the private sector in Italy.
A previous reform under technocrat prime minister Mario Monti in 2012 already allowed companies to lay off staff when business was bad.
Such a decision can still be reversed by the courts, but the new proposals would prevent judges from forcing firms to reinstate workers.
“There is now no reason for a worker to go to a judge when he is dismissed for economic reasons and that is a very important simplification for employers,” Taddei said.
However, Renzi disappointed some expectations on Monday by leaving the possibility of reinstatement in cases involving dismissal for discrimination and disciplinary reasons.
“If this were to be so, nothing would change at all,” said Renato Brunetta, lower house floor leader for Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party.
Left-wing critics fear any weakening of unions will undermine worker rights and put more pressure on salaries already weakened during more than six years of economic crisis.
It remains to be seen how many PD dissidents may defy the prime minister on the vote.
How far the proposals would dent Italy’s unemployment figures is disputed by unions, who say that changing job protection rules will do nothing to create work in a country going through its worst economic slump since World War II.
However, employers have generally backed the government, even though many see cutting taxes, eliminating red tape, and reforming the creaking and unpredictable justice system as more urgent priorities than Article 18.
Renzi says Article 18, which came on to the statute books in 1970, at the height of Italy’s post-war boom, is no longer appropriate in a labour market increasingly made up of workers on short-term contracts that are not covered by the rules.
Statistics agency ISTAT reported yesterday that headline unemployment in August dipped to 12.3%, but at the same time unemployment among young people, few of whom have full contracts, rose to 44.2% – the highest level since at least 1977 when the series began.
According to Labour Minister Giuliano Poletti, only 17-18% of new hires in the past 12 months received fixed contracts that would be protected by Article 18 rules, with more than 80% on short-term contracts without cover.
Renzi wants a simplified system with fewer short-term contracts and a new form of full-time contract that would gradually raise the degree of protection offered to workers as their seniority increased.
At the same time, he wants to extend unemployment welfare benefits to workers not currently covered, although he has yet to provide details on how he would fund the measures.
In a bid to offer more immediate cash to households, Renzi also proposed allowing workers to take part of a special pension fund contribution, normally redeemable on retirement, directly into their pay packets.
