The European Commissioner for Labor, Nicolas Schmit says it outright: “We will not impose a minimum wage on Italy, that’s not the point”. I am very confident, however, he insists that “eventually the Italian government and the social partners will reach a good agreement to strengthen collective bargaining, especially for those who are not well protected, and will eventually come to the conclusion that it could be important to introduce the system. minimum wage in Italy. But it is up to the Italian government and the social partners to do it, ”he underlines.
“With the impact of the Russian war in Ukraine, it is essential to protect low-income workers.” The vice president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, writes in a tweet, commenting on the political agreement between the European institutions on the minimum wage. “These rules are a fundamental step to protect workers throughout our EU, while respecting national competences and the autonomy of the social partners,” he adds.
Via Facebook, the Minister of Labor Andrea Orlando, welcomes the green light of the EU on the minimum wage. «Europe presents itself with good news at the work of the OECD in Paris. The okay to the minimum wage directive opens up a prospect to tackle poor work and to give all workers a decent wage. Italy has fought for this important result which extends protections and rights to European workers. An important step to make a social and work Europe come true ”.
The leader of the League Matteo Salvini a Fourth Republic, on Rete 4, answering a question on the minimum wage, he explained that “the priority for the League is to lower taxes for those who create jobs, in order to be able to increase the salaries of workers. You can’t guarantee salaries with 60 percent tax. We are for minimum taxes ».
Many reactions. «A decisive step for the construction of a social Europe. And the Republic founded on work cannot be left behind ”writes on Twitter the deputy secretary of the Democratic Party, Peppe Provenzano, commenting on the agreement reached in the European context on the EU directive for the minimum wage.
Per Stefano Fassina «The political agreement on the proposal for a European Directive for the minimum wage and the promotion of collective bargaining reached tonight in Brussels between the representations of the European Parliament, the European Council and the Commission is good news. But pay attention to the propaganda: it is proposed to introduce a minimum wage threshold, there is no intervention on the general conditions of work, also because the dignity of work is not given by decree – states the deputy Leu ad Omnibus on La7 -. In Italy, a minimum wage linked to the contractual minimums defined by the most representative workers ‘and employers’ organizations is useful for improving the income of the band at the edge of the universe of work. It must therefore be implemented without waiting for the approval of the European Directive, which is not binding for the States ».
Action leader Carlo Calenda he said he was “in favor of the minimum wage and I consider the European Union directive very positively. The problem of the working poor is a gigantic problem, who is not covered by real bargaining today can earn even less than 5 euros per hour. This is inadmissible. If we want to get out of the basic income for people who want to work we have to do two things: establish a decent salary, decided by a commission of independent experts and give the opportunity to entrepreneurs who have made profits to give a one-off, completely tax-free and decontributed , to workers to tackle inflation ».
“Like Uil we have always been in favor of the minimum wage”, however “we have a concern: we have a very high percentage of contracts that have been signed by confederal unions”, which are “around 60-70%”, at the same time, however , “There is an area, which is increasing every day, of trade unions and employers’ organizations that sign” other types of contracts. This was stated by the general secretary of UIL Pierpaolo Bombardieriduring the transmission “Radio too “ on Radio 1 Rai, asked about the launch of the European law on the minimum wage, adding that “it would be very easy to understand which types of contracts are valid, and which are not”, since “it would be enough to look at the number of workers to whom it applies”. For the trade unionist, “we should have the courage to carry out this operation and have the possibility – he closes – to say that if a contract is made for a condominium, that is not valid”.