Ex Democratic Party (PD) chief
Pier Luigi Bersani said Friday that party dissidents will file a
slew of amendments to Premier Matteo Renzi's signature Jobs Act.
"We will present many amendments, and not just on the right
to reinstatement in case of unfair dismissal," Bersani said.
"Because as things stand, we are merely adding more job
insecurity to existing insecurity".
The Jobs Act approved at 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.
But it also calls for a a scaling back of Article 18 of the
1970 Workers' Statute - which says unfairly dismissed workers
must be reinstated - and the prospect of easier firings for new
hires has raised union hackles as well as aroused dissent within
the PD.
Italy's young premier is trying to achieve something akin
to the German model of labor law, but this way he is only moving
further away from it, Bersani argued.
"Renzi is at risk of crushing workers' rights. We need
reform, not a sterile tug-of-war," said the former
premier-designate who failed to form a government after Italy's
inconclusive 2013 general election.
"New hires must enjoy the same protections as their more
senior colleagues, including the right to reinstatement after
unfair dismissal that exists throughout Europe," Bersani said.
"We must strike a balance between capital and labor - that
is the essence of being reformist," he concluded.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
