Social Pacts in Italy: Pact for Italy
PERIOD: July 2002
SIGNATORY PARTIES: The government, all the major employers’
organisations, the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Unions – CISL;
the Italian Union
of Labour – UIL, the independent Italian Confederation of Autonomous
Workers’ Unions –CISAL and the General Union of Labour - UGL. The
largest union confederation, the Italian General Confederation of Labour
– CGIL did not sign it.
GOALS OF THE PACT: to make workers’ organisations agree
on the new government proposals (included in the White Paper, presented in October 2001) concerning labour market reforms,
the Mezzogiorno regions and tax system. These reforms would
be carried out by parliament delegating to the government the power
to legislate on these particular issues.
MATTERS AGREED: fiscal policy, the reform of the labour market,
of the Mezzogiorno regions. Proxy laws (prepared by the government
following delegation by parliament) reforming the labour market and
the tax system would be included in the 2002 budget law and presented
to parliament in the following months.
INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED: The
National Council for Economy and Labour – CNEL, was not involved.
ACTION TAKEN: The “proxy law”, DDL 848bis including labour
market reforms, has been approved in early 2003.
IMPACTS ON:
- employment
- labour market flexibility
- macroeconomic balance
SUMMARY AND COMMENTS: The agreement acknowledged that the
1992 and 1993 tripartite agreements on incomes policy played a crucial role
in Italy’s joining the Economic and Monetary Union. It also recognised
that social dialogue and concertation are key mechanisms to achieve
reforms. In particular, the agreement covers:
- income tax reductions for families earning up to 25,000 Euro per year;
- reduction of company taxation;
Proposed Welfare
to Work programmes which included benefits and services aimed
at assisting workers when they entered or re-entered the labour
market
(public employment services, promotion of lifelong and permanent
training, reform of unemployment benefits, experimental measures
to promote growth
of companies employing less than 15 employees, a new Work Statute
(protecting all types of works), new rules on arbitration and conciliation.
Proposed measures to promote economic growth in the Mezzogiorno.
The signing of the Pact for Italy by only two of the three major workers’ organisations deepened the existing divisions among the
CGIL and the other two workers’ confederations. The
pact was not submitted to the workers’ vote. The major private employers’
confederation, Confindustria, stated that the pact was the right step
to promote development with equity.
Link to the full text: http://www.cnel.it/archivio/contratti_lavoro/accgov.asp
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