Govt to cut labour costs, pensions

(ANSA) - Rome, July 3 - The government will cut labour costs and golden pensions, Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said a day after a decree declaring "war" on precarious work and offshoring.
    Di Maio said Tuesday the government aims to cut so-called 'golden pensions' as well as labour costs to businesses that can grow.
    Di Maio vowed to cut so-called 'golden pensions', those paying over 5,000 euros a month. "I have made another commitment to the Italians: now let's cut the golden pensions," he said on Italian TV.
    "We'll frame a bill in the Senate and I hope to approve it by the end of the summer", said the deputy premier and leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
    Di Maio also vowed to cut Italian firms' labour costs. Speaking on Italian TV, Di Maio said a reduction in labour costs aimed at incentivising those firms that can grow will be introduced in the next budget bill.
    "We'll cut labour costs, we're working on it for the budget bill," Di Maio said.
    He said the government will implement "a selective reduction in labour costs, on all firms that have growth margins, we will incentivise them".
    The government on Monday night passed its so-called 'dignity decree' declaring war on precarious jobs and offshoring.
    The decree, which mothballs ex-premier Matteo Renzi's once-trumpeted Jobs Act labour-market reform, "is the Waterloo of precariousness, and the age of precarious jobs without all reason is over," said its architect, Di Maio.
    There will be a clampdown on firms who relocate their activities outside the European Union.
    These firms will be fined and asked to pay back any resources they may have received from the government.
    There will be a five-year interlude between the aid and the sanctions. The 'dignity decree' also hikes compensation for unfair dismissal by 50% and overhauls the Jobs Act via a "war" on precarious contracts, Di Maio said. The decree will "sack" the Jobs Act, the minister and deputy premier said.
    With its "war on precariousness", the decree will overhaul the Renzi reform, said Di Maio, leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, one of the two populist government partners alongside the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League of Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
    For temp workers, Di Maio said, an extension of the same rights enjoyed by other workers is envisaged.
    There will also be "more safeguards for workers without penalising honest entrepreneurs", the sources said.
    The decree will also safeguard workers via "major" disincentives on unfair dismissals. The compensation may reach the equivalent of 36 monthly wage packets, Di Maio said.
    The decree, which has been largely shaped by Di Maio, also contains a "light" fiscal package with an adjustment to the so-called 'spending meter' and a postponement of the deadline for reporting under the government's means test.
    The decree alsos crack down on gambling advertising amid a gambling-addiction epidemic, excluding the Italian lottery and other lotteries with a delayed draw.
    Di Maio also said that the decree contains measures to help people working in the gig economy, such as food delivery riders, an emblem of the precariousness he has vowed to stamp out.
    The minister met with representatives of the riders as one of his first acts when appointed minister last month.