Poletti meets the companies and he promises, “In January the growing protections contract”

Outside, there were a hundred workers of CGIL waiting to protest against the Jobs Act and the lack of openness of the government regarding the dialogue with the unions, in the economic and political elite of the province of Varese. This is the scenario that received the Minister of Labour Giuliano Poletti at MalpensaFiere for a workshop on competitiveness and development of the territory, which was held this evening, Wednesday, under the aegis of the Chamber of Commerce of Varese.

The minister got out of the car which had chaperoned him to the entrance of the exhibition centre and he faced the workers who were clamouring for a serious debate with the unions and the government on the labour reform that Renzi would approve by January. When asked by the press about the reception which now go along with him at every appointment, Poletti has defined the presence of the CGIL as "something that is part of the normal dialectic, however, if the organization thinks it has something to say, we will listen to them even though I am sure that the legislative decree is a good law, which promotes open-ended contract of growing protections also because we come from a situation where for about every 100 contracts, 85 are terminable and only 15 fixed-term.”

About the possibility that the process to enact the bill could be obstructed also in the Parliament, Poletti seems to be sure, “Our goal is very clear, in January we want the contract of growing protections to be signed, so that it can be promoted with the de-contribution provided by the finance act,” he explains, “there’s time, but if there will be delays we will face them.” An observation even about Malpensa: “If today we’re discussing what was to become this airport maybe it’s time to look at what has been done over the years, not only at the decree of the Minister Lupi.”

After the trade unions and journalists, the minister had to face the opinion of the citizens by the representatives of the local associations: the president of the Chamber of Commerce Renato Scapolan has shown the negatives numbers of the crisis of labour and production in a region that, until few years ago, had a normal unemployment rate while the exponent of the Government achieved a half confidence from Univa (Union of the Industrialists of the Province of Varese) with the president Brugnoli, who has stressed how “the current wording of the reform of labour is good and we hope it will pass mostly harmless and the most quickly as possible at the analysis Parliament” and that the cut on the budget of the IRAP (Regional income tax) is “a motion which goes in the right direction” but he also asked to be quick.

The Cna (Italian National Trades Confederation) has expressed its concern: “We are afraid that it won’t be taken into an appropriate account the peculiarities of the different sections about contract of growing protections, partly because of the size of the company and, more importantly, we believe that this contract marginalises the use of the apprenticeship contract, that we instead consider the vehicle of access to the labour market in the world of craft,” said in Ticino Olona, Roberta Tajè, director of CNA Varese. “We also express concern about the regulation that provides for the introduction of an hourly minimum payment to apply to all dependent business relationships: if the definition of this hourly payment would be left to the specialist sectorial parts, it will get important value. But if this would become a minimum wage by law, then it would reduce the value of sectorial collective agreements nowadays in force.”

“We need to reinstate more balance to the topic of jobs act: I think that the climate of discussion and dialogue can help everyone to build a discussion on practical issues and common goals to be achieved, said the president of the Regional Council of Lombardy, Raffaele Cattaneo.

“Entrepreneurs are asking us to reform the rules and right now we can’t keep still. Stagnation doesn’t help in a time when it’s still possible to build a chain of trust in the relationship among businesses, labour and public administration,” said Cattaneo. “To do so, it’s necessary to give credit to the market in the name of freedom, autonomy and confidence as we do in Lombardy. Our land is in trouble but it’s not discouraged and it needs assistance.”