Art 18 will no longer stop investments

(ANSA) - Rome, November 21 - Premier Matteo Renzi said implementation of the government's Jobs Act labour reform in the new year will mean Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Statute is no longer an obstacle to investing in Italy. "The intention is to provoke you," Renzi told the Business Europe meeting of industrialists. "We are freeing up the traditional Italian system. Article 18 is a symbol of the Italian system that is no longer an obstacle," he said, adding that his government was committed to tax cuts. The premier said the final vote on the Jobs Act should be held in parliament on December 9 and the legislation will come into force with an enacting decree in January. Renzi reached an agreement to amend the Jobs Act, softening changes to Article 18, which defends workers from unfair dismissal, to win over opponents to the bill from within his own centre-left Democratic Party (PD). But two of Italy's big three trade union confederations, the CGIL and UIL, have called a general strike for December 12 to protest against the Jobs Act and the government's 2015 budget law.