'Article 18 not an ideological battle'

(ANSA) - London, October 2 - Changing Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Statute is a far-reaching reform and it will attract investors, Premier Matteo Renzi said in London Thursday.
    Article 18 says unfairly dismissed workers have a right to be reinstated. Renzi's reform would scale it back for new hires in an effort to stimulate job creation, and is opposed by a minority within the premier's Democratic Party (PD) and by Italy's biggest and most leftwing trade union federation, the CGIL.
    "The measure on Article 18 is a far-reaching labour market reform that will be much appreciated by investors," Renzi said in the British capital, where he is updating Prime Minister David Cameron as well as financial investors on Italian government reforms.
    "This is not an ideological battle," he added. "Those who think it's a half-hearted reform have not been listening to the PD executive, or have not read our text".
    His labour bill, or Jobs Act, recently came under fire from the right due to a new measure on Article 18, which was included after a showdown between Renzi and a dissenting minority within his party on Monday.
    Initially, the Jobs Act said that Article 18 would remain in force for people already in jobs and would only apply to new hires in cases of discrimination. But the document approved by the PD on Monday said that the guarantee should also apply in cases when a newly hired worker is dismissed on disciplinary grounds that a court rules are unfounded. Back in Rome, the government is still weighing whether or not to file an amendment or a motion to its Jobs Act containing the new measure before it goes to the Senate next week.
    Labour Minister Giuliano Poletti said that the issue is "purely political, because the way the norm is written, it already allows us to do what we want to do".