The Lower House's labour committee
on Thursday is set to vote on abolishing controversial work
vouchers used to pay for occasional work, the rapporteur of a
bill on the system said.
Scrapping the vouchers would avert a May 28 referendum on the
system, which is widely being abused.
"Today we will vote on the total abolition of the vouchers,"
said Patrizia Maestri of Premier Paolo Gentiloni's Democratic
Party (PD).
"There will be a transition period up to December 31, 2017 to
make it possible to use the ones already bought. The abolition
is an unexpected but positive result.
"Let's hope that the government does not bring them back in
another form".
Unions say the vouchers are being widely abused to pay for
long-term and sometimes steady jobs instead of the occasional
work they were meant to pay for.
The use of vouchers has expanded exponentially in recent
years after they were first introduced after the turn of the
millennium.
The government is also reportedly weighing changes to
contract law to avert a second referendum on May 28, both
sponsored by Italy's biggest trade union, the left-wing CGIL.
Vincenzo Boccia, the head of industrial employers'
confederation Confindustria, was unhappy about the prospect of
the vouchers being phased out.
"We don't like the elimination of the vouchers, nor the way
it has been done," Boccia said.
"It a referendum it needed, let's have it.
"Dismantling things without a debate does not seem the right
road to us".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
