The Meloni government opens up the possibility of rethinking some of the rules included in the Manobra and at the center of the political and union debate, but it does not convince CGIL and UIL that they confirm the regional strikes proclaimed in recent days against the stability law; thus, on the 12th, the workers of Calabria will cross their arms, on the 13th it will be the turn of Sicily and Umbria, Apulia will go on strike on Thursday, December 14th, while on Thursday the workers of Abruzzo, Marche and Piemonte will cross their arms and on Friday, December 16, all other regions from Alto Adige to Lazio. Black smoke, therefore, for the CGIL and UIL of the second round between the government and the unions in Manobra. On the other hand, Luigi Sbarra’s Cisl was satisfied, which had already rejected the strike proclaimed by his cousins’ unions, on the “great desire to modify the Maneuver”, arrived by the Government. A positive note from Ugl too: “The moment is difficult and it is not time for the square, but for dialogue”, explained secretary Paolo Capone. The responses that came from Prime Minister Meloni, therefore, articulated the leader of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, in the end, “confirmed the deep distances on the tax authorities and precariousness and also on the protection of purchasing power: we had asked for a wedge cut of 5% and the introduction of the tax drag but no responses arrived except for a general one, we will evaluate the resources ». Responses that, therefore, highlighted the need to “continue the mobilization.” The UIL of Pierpaolo Bombardieri is also online. “We reiterate our negative opinion. There was no response either on wages and pensions or on the tax burden”.
Thus, the Prime Minister’s acknowledgment of the “sensible” trade union requests and the insinuation of willingness to intervene, after assessing the costs, in the chapters relating to the exemption of contracts, the reduction of the tax burden, the stoppage of social security equivalence the threshold of 4 times the minimum was not enough and on the modification of the Feminine Option to defuse union protests. «We are substantially available to think about some things: we are committed to doing it as quickly as possible. I hope to be able to do something more, right away», said Prime Minister Meloni at the beginning, according to sources present at the meeting, guaranteeing that the government will thus «work on the CDM to implement them as quickly as possible». On the other hand, observed Meloni, if “many of the proposals are sensible, however, it is up to the government to make the choices. If we lined up all the requests, there would never be resources to do everything”, he underlined. So on the exemption of contractual increases, “I agree but let’s do the quantifications because it is convenient to build conditioning, connection with companies based on virtuous behavior”. And still on the cut in the tax burden: «we wanted to give a signal but we want to do more, they were emergency choices but we agree that the issue of reducing labor costs is a priority: I would be very happy to be able to do more, the problem is coverage », recognized Meloni again at the table before moving on to the chapter on “pensions”, the only one in which the will to intervene appears more decisive. In fact, when checks are stopped indexing, the Government “reserves the right to carry out a new assessment of the thresholds”, he announced, however, while defending the selection made by the law included in the maneuver: “we decided to help who couldn’t” and, given the reduced spending margins, “we had to make choices”, he explained. Also at the center of the executive’s attention is the Women’s Option: “We are evaluating proposals for changes”, he assured, as well as on vouchers: “It is a delicate topic, it needs reflection, it cannot become an instrument of low-paid workers “.
Total defense, on the contrary, about the fixed rate: “it does not introduce any discrimination and does not penalize workers”, and about the accusations made to the executive of wanting to defend tax evasion. «There are no signs of laxity in tax evasion in the maneuver. The measures related to Pos and the cash ceiling have nothing to do with tax evasion”, specified Meloni. And to show that the executive has focused attention on the issues, the prime minister announced the launch in January of a set of thematic tables to be held in the relevant ministries. Tables that, however, also welcome the skepticism of the CGIL and the UIL. “When the government talks about launching a series of reforms, it’s for next year”, recalls Landini, while Bombardieri makes use of a famous phrase: “I say that with a table you don’t pay bills or eat”.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
