(by Stefania Fumo). The Lower
House on Tuesday approved center-left Premier Matteo Renzi's
signature Jobs Act labour reform bill with 316 in favor, six
against and five abstaining out of a total of 630 seats.
Renzi greeted the news with a tweet, saying the bill is the
harbinger of a better future for Italy's recession-weary
workers and flatlining economy.
"The Lower House approves the Jobs Act. More protections,
solidarity, and jobs," he tweeted.
The premier's victory was hard-won over internal opposition
as 40 out of 307 MPs from his Democratic Party (PD) walked out
before the final vote, while two remained to vote against the
bill and two more abstained.
MPs from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, the
anti-immigrant Northern League, the leftwing Left Ecology
Freedom party and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right
Forza Italia (FI) party also walked out before the vote, after
staging assorted protests from their seats.
The vote was a close shave after dissenters from within the
premier's PD earlier in the day looked set to join opposition
parties' efforts to ambush the bill in spite of extensive talks
within the ruling majority, with 30 MPs signing on to a document
explaining why they would abstain from the final vote.
Earlier still, ex PD chief Pier Luigi Bersani, one of the
bill's most vocal opponents, stated he would vote in favor "out
of party discipline" although parts of the proposed legislation
left him "unconvinced".
The statement by the party's one-time secretary-general and
ex-premier of Italy was followed by "one last appeal for party
unity" by PD President Matteo Orfini.
"I hope everyone will make one last effort out of respect
for the all work we've done and for our community," he said.
During floor debate, a group of FIOM metalworker union
members tried to stage a protest from the public's section of
the Lower House, but were pushed back by security.
The bill now returns to the Senate for what should be its
final reading. The premier wants it turned into law by the end
of the year to coincide with his 2015 budget bill, which is also
being debated and which will contain social welfare measures
dovetailing with provisions contained in the Jobs Act.
The biggest novelty in the Jobs Act as it now stands is
that it amends Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Statute to limit
cases in which employees who can prove they were wrongfully
dismissed can be reinstated.
Wrongful dismissal includes for reasons of discrimination
on the basis of race, gender, religion or political affiliation,
as well as some disciplinary cases to be listed in enabling
decrees to be added to the Jobs Act later.
The bill also institutes open-ended contracts with
increasing protections to replace a plethora of temporary and
other low-paying, no-benefits contracts that have proliferated
in Italy as companies try to avoid paying high labor taxes.
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