Labor Minister Giuliano Poletti
said Tuesday the government will not cut pensions in its
anti-poverty bill, including those payable to widows and
widowers of deceased retirees.
"The government has made a specific amendment to the bill
containing measures to combat poverty," Poletti said.
The minister's remarks came as 150,000 randomly chosen
taxpayers are set to receive so-called orange envelopes
containing projections of when they can retire and what their
pensions might look like, sent by INPS national pensions and
social security agency.
The envelopes are being sent throughout the country to
taxpayers with a range of ages and professions. They contain a
history of pension contributions made, a forecast of retirement
age, the amount of the pension check and its relationship to
wages.
The objective is to increase taxpayer awareness of where
they will stand when they retire.
Leaders from the big three trade union federations slammed
the orange envelopes as an exercise in futility, saying the
government should focus on reforming the system instead.
"The situation won't stay the way it is now," said UIL
chief Carmelo Barbagallo. "Governments will always try to make
it worse, we must fight to make it better".
"The real issue is how we will reform the pensions law,"
said CISL leader Annamaria Furlan. "Then people's lives will
change, and for the better".
"We need to design a new social security system because as
things stand, pensions are a utopia for young people," said CGIL
chief Susanna Camusso.
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