The Draghi government has kept the commitment made in December 2021: with the appointment set for the leaders of CGIL, CISL and UIL at the Ministry of Labor, the construction site-pensions formally reopens. The goal is to reach shared solutions to correct the Fornero law starting from January 1, 2023, once the Quota 102 experience has been exhausted, limited to 2022 only by the last budget law approved by Parliament. Even if Palazzo Chigi has already set a precise goal: any retouching must rigidly remain within the furrow of the contribution method. And the presence of the Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, alongside the head of Labor, Andrea Orlando, at the first face-to-face of the year with the unions on social security is an indirect confirmation of the executive’s will to avoid unhinging the current pension structure. The negotiation is not easy, also because in order to devise the flexibility in exit invoked by the unions, it will have to move forcibly starting from the “line” drawn by Mario Draghi with the age limit of 64 identified precisely in the introduction of Quota 102 and provided for by the same “Fornero” for the early retirement of fully “contributory” workers.
On the road map the unknown factor of the match for the Colle
Among the open issues there are also the social security coverage of young people with discontinuous careers, the separation of social security from assistance and the relaunch of pension funds. With a great unknown that weighs on the drafting of the road map for the comparison: the effects on the pension table of the existence of the match for the election of the new head of state. For weeks now, trade union leaders have been wondering about the real possibility that Draghi will continue to be the interlocutor at Palazzo Chigi to outline the new pension reform. And there were many who thought that precisely due to the approach of the vote of the Chambers in joint session to elect the successor of Sergio Mattarella, the three technical tables on social security announced by the premier for January would have been postponed. The premier, on the other hand, wanted to confirm the start of the technical confrontation on schedule.
The three technical tables
The comparison will have to develop around three specific tables: flexibility in output; social security treatment of young people and women; supplementary pension. On the basis of an agreed agenda, the meetings will be scheduled with a first reference deadline, which should be that of the presentation of the Document of economics and finance (Def) of April. Although there should be time to identify shared solutions until next autumn when the economic maneuver for 2023 will be defined.
The “line” of 64 years and the constraint of the “contributory”
As is well known, trade unions aim for marked flexibility in leaving, with the possibility of retirement as early as 62 or with 41 years of contributions regardless of age. From this year, net of departures with the social Ape or with the female option, the minimum age threshold was set by the government at 64 years (with at least 38 years of payments) as part of Quota 102. And 64 years is also the registry requirement established by the Fornero law for the early exits of fully contributory workers (those who started working after December 31, 1995). It will therefore not be easy for the unions to try to lower the bar. It is no coincidence that the proposal formulated by the president of INPS, Pasquale Tridico, sets the limit for requesting the advance of only the “contribution” portion of the allowance at 64 years, postponing the disbursement of the “salary” quota to the old threshold. And the treatment calculated with the contributory method translates into a constraint that is difficult to circumvent.
The knots of “young people” and the pension-assistance separation
The negotiation is also uphill on a high point considered strategic by the unions, especially by UIL and CISL: the separation of the welfare items from the social security items, which would allow, among other things, to soften the impact of pension spending on public accounts. The final dossier of the special Technical Commission set up by the Ministry of Labor, which states that a clear separation of assistance from social security is in fact impossible, already seems to crush trade union hopes. CGIL, CISL and UIL, however, do not give up and also aim to set up a new pension protection mechanism for young people, along the lines of the guarantee pension, with notional contributions also for training periods. An intervention, however, that would require resources that are not exactly meager. And the Ministry of Economy already on the occasion of the drafting of the last maneuver made it clear that it was not too willing to loosen the purse strings.