Tension cools between Renzi, PD rebels

(ANSA) - Rome, November 13 - The Democratic Party (PD) of Premier Matteo Renzi reached a deal Thursday with internal dissenters on the government's contested Jobs Act labour reform bill.
    "I'm very satisfied," Lower House PD whip Roberto Speranza said of the agreement that essentially averts the possibility of a confidence vote after earlier reports that Renzi was likely to do just that in a bid to quash internal dissent and achieve his goal of having the labour reform in force by the new year.
    The PD has been divided over the bill, which features changes to the rules on unfair dismissal, and the executive used a confidence vote in the Senate last month to snuff out internal dissent there.
    PD Deputy Secretary Lorenzo Guerini said Thursday the agreement means "those who would open rifts within the party" have been unsuccessful.
    The new-found unity came after the PD on Wednesday filed an amendment to the government's Jobs Act over the contentious area of unfair dismissals. Big divisions have emerged within the PD over changes to Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Statutes guaranteeing people unjustly sacked the right to their job back.
    The Jobs Act would change this for newly hired workers so that if a court finds they were unjustly sacked, they would get compensation, rather than being rehired.
    The Jobs Act currently contemplates that judges must order a firm to rehire a worker only in cases of discrimination.
    But the amendment, based on a petition approved at a tense PD meeting in September, states that people fired on the basis of groundless disciplinary complaints should also have the right to their jobs back.
    On Thursday, PD President Matteo Orfini said the party has reached a unified position on Article 18 at last. "There is an extremely wide consensus," Orfini said. "We're still working on the details but the political point is Article 18". An enabling bill to the Jobs Act will contain a list of all the situations in which a dismissed worker will have the right to be rehired, Orfini explained.
    However a junior government coalition member, the New Center Right (NCD) party, said the PD may have reached internal agreement on the Jobs Act bill, but it still needs to consult its partners. "The PD doesn't have an absolute majority in parliament. If the text is as described in news reports, it is not acceptable," said NCD Senate whip Maurizio Sacconi. "We want a meeting to discuss any changes to the enabling bill, or the coalition will fall apart".
    It later emerged that Sacconi and Lower House whip Nunzia de Girolamo were summoned to a meeting at the premier's office.