One day after his 2015 budget was finally approved by parliament, Premier Matteo Renzi turned his attention Tuesday to his controversial Jobs Act labour reforms, pledging that positive results will be seen in the coming months.
During a radio interview, the premier said his cabinet was preparing to sign its first implementation decree for the labour reforms during a meeting on Wednesday.
He added that his government has also saved numerous jobs by signing various agreements in recent week with major employers such as Germany's ThyssenKrupp in order to protect the AST steel plant in the Umbrian city of Terni.
These deals, said Renzi, prove his commitment to protecting and encouraging employment.
"Some effects are already there," said Renzi, pointing to deals that include a new plan for the troubled ILVA steel plant, Europe's largest, which will also go to cabinet Wednesday.
"In reality, we have saved and restored many jobs," he said. Just Monday night, Renzi's 2015 budget - including some tax breaks and spending cuts - won final approval, despite rising protests from unionized workers and opposition politicians.
The Lower House cleared the budget, which features tax reductions as part of a drive to revive the recession-hit Italian economy, with 307 votes in favour and 116 against late Monday night.
The budget had earlier cleared the Senate with the help of a confidence vote on the weekend and faced down a last-ditch effort Monday by several members of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) who were ejected for high-voltage protests on the floor of the assembly. The 2015 budget, including an 80-euro-a-month tax bonus for low-income earners and labour tax reductions for firms who hire new staff, underwent some amendments by Renzi's centre-left government in a bid to satisfy requirements by the European Union.
Still, final approval by the EU is pending until March as the European leadership weighs whether promised reforms to labour markets and other structural changes promised by Renzi come to fruition.
That included fewer tax cuts than Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) had initially planned but abandoned as his government struggled to reduce its ratio of deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.6% - below the EU's maximum level of 3%.
Among the reforms the EU leadership is closely watching is the labour-market changes included in the Jobs Act, was approved after overcoming staunch opposition from a minority within Renzi's PD and union federations. Major alternations include changes to Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Statute, protecting people from unfair dismissal, for newly hired workers.
Renzi said the labour law, a key part of his ambitious reform programme, will encourage firms to hire new staff and help combat unemployment, which has reached a record high of 13.2% in recession-battered Italy.
But CGIL and UIL labour federations have said it will undermine a fundamental labour right by softening protections against unfair dismissal.
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.
On Tuesday, UIL leader Carmelo Barbagallo said the reforms will lead to companies hiring and firing workers too easily and quickly.
"We need to avoid mistakes that could damage millions of workers," Barbagallo said.
"With the new Jobs Act rules, rather than a permanent contract with increasing protection over time we risk providing incentives for short-term contracts," he added. "As it is structured now, one could generate paradoxical conditions that favour the firm that decides to profit from lay-offs".
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