Minimum wage, Calderone: “I’m not sure it can be done”. And the unions are also against it
“I am not convinced that the minimum wage can be reached by law. We are attentive to all the dynamics of the world of work“. To say it in the aftermath of the agreement on the threshold of 9 euros per hour reached by the oppositions for a unitary proposal to be presented to the Chamber, is the Minister of Labor Marina Calderone, speaking on the sidelines of the 2023 Labor Festival.
But as reported by the press, too “the unions are against regulating a basic level, they believe it is then difficult to negotiate accessories”. Furthermore, as La Stampa explains, it remains “to be defined whether the 14th salary, welfare and supplementary pensions are included in the hourly wage”.
But the opposition insists on the need for the measure. “The Minister of Labor says there is no need for a minimum wage law. I would like to remind you and the Government – says the secretary of the Pd Elly Schlein – that there are three million poor workers in Italy and that this Government cannot fail to understand that below a certain threshold we cannot speak of work but it is exploitation . The oppositions’ proposal strengthens collective bargaining because it enforces for all workers in a sector the total wage envisaged by the comparatively more representative contract. And it also sets a threshold of 9 euros per hour, below which one cannot go even in bargaining. This is to ensure a fair wage even where there is no negotiation or where there is pirated contracts. Work must be paid with dignity by those who use it. The tax authorities – adds Schlein – must be rewritten to give fairness to the levy by structurally reducing the burden on employee work and not through the kind concession of temporary and categorical subsidies or tax cuts”.
“With the minimum wage we give an answer to over three million workers without contractual coverage. The 9 euros per hour are a concrete antidote to the cost of living. This is why the no of the right is incomprehensible. Who prefers to stir up the usual ghosts rather than solve problems,” writes Pd deputy Arturo Scotto, group leader in the Labor commission on Twitter.
“Nine euros of wages per hour is just the minimum, and yet – echoes the head of the economy of the Italian Left Giovanni Paglia – over 4 million male and female workers earn less than that. In other words, they are poor by working. Give an answer that better their lives – continues the exponent of the Left Green Alliance – should not be a commitment only of the opposition, but of the whole of politics. And it must be done soon because it is already late”.
The secretary of Più Europa Riccardo Magi insists on the need to discuss it in Parliament: “The proposal for a minimum wage of the united opposition must be discussed or it would be a very serious trip to the regular democratic confrontation between the majority and the minority. We will not tolerate this in any way that the minimum wage is not scheduled and discussed as soon as possible”, concludes Magi.
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