Premier Matteo Renzi on
Tuesday took pot shots at opponents of his proposed Jobs Act
after dissenters within his Democratic Party (PD) failed to
rally consensus against him.
He chided fellow PD member and former premier Massimo
D'Alema, who led the internal dissenters along with former party
chief Pier Luigi Bersani.
"Every time D'Alema speaks, I win more points," Renzi said
in an interview to be aired on TV talk show Ballarò.
"If D'Alema didn't exist, we'd have to invent him".
The Jobs Act, which has been approved at the committee
stage, progressively raises safeguards for new hires, slashes
the plethora of temp contracts currently plaguing entry workers,
and establishes a minimum wage and universal unemployment
benefit.
The bone of contention is a measure that would scale back a
landmark jobs protection regulation - Article 18 of the 1970
Workers Stature guaranteeing the right to be reinstated after
unfair dismissal - for new hires.
The measure is opposed by a minority within his PD and by
Italy's biggest and most leftwing trade union confederation, the
CGIL.
Renzi last night came under intense fire in speeches from
Bersani and D'Alema, but the premier's line prevailed, with 130
votes in favour, while the dissenters split, with 20 voting
against and 11 abstaining.
Renzi appears to have given some ground to the rebels who
have vowed to fight the reform though.
The government may present an amendment to its own labour
reform bill on the basis of a document approved Monday's
meeting, PD Senate whip Luigi Zanda said Tuesday, according to
ANSA sources.
Initially, the Jobs Act said that the Article 18 guarantee
for people unjustly dismissed to have their jobs back would no
longer apply to newly hired workers - while remaining in force
for people already in jobs - except in cases of discrimination.
But the document approved by the PD on Monday said that the
guarantee should also apply in cases when a worker is dismissed
on disciplinary grounds that a court rules are unfounded.
Nevertheless, PD rebels said that they were not withdrawing
amendments they have presented to the Jobs Act.
Italy is mired in its third recession since 2008, and the
premier's words came as Istat national statistics bureau
confirmed the jobless rate among young Italians rose to a new
record high in August, reaching 44.2%, while unemployment
overall fell slightly to 12.3% during the month.
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