CGIL declares action over pensions

(ANSA) - Rome, November 21 - Susanna Camusso, the leader of Italy's biggest trade-union confederation, the leftwing CGIL, said Tuesday that the union will take action on December 2 due to the "great inadequacies" of the government's proposals on pensions and retirement.
    But the big three trade unions were split, with UIL and CISL expressing satisfaction after talks with Premier Paolo Gentiloni's government. CGIL wants an increase in the retirement age to 67, set to kick in in 2019, to be postponed, saying many people doing heavy jobs should be exempted. Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has offered some adjustments, but said the structure of the pension system, with the retirement age increasing on the basis of life expectancy, cannot be made without damaging the sustainability of the system.
    Annamaria Furlan, the leader of the CISL trade union confederation, said Tuesday that it had given the thumbs up to a package of measures for pensions and retirement proposed by the government. "The CISL considers the path outlined by the government and the summaries made to be absolutely positive," Furlan said. "And so the evaluation of the path and the work done is positive too".
    UIL leader Carmelo Barbagallo said that he did not think the trade unions could have gotten any more out of the government on the issue of pensions and retirement. "We have concluded this path and we saw a synthesis note implemented by the government, thus winning some of the clarifications we had asked for," Barbagallo said. "If we start from the assessment that the resources are scarce, we have achieved the maximum possible with the given economic conditions. We have opened an element of flexibility into the rigidity of the Fornero (pension reform) law".
    Gentiloni told trade unions on Tuesday that the government had prepared a "very significant, sustainable" package during talks on pensions and retirement, sources present at the meeting said. "From our point of view, it's a good result - a result in which the agreement of the trade-union world is an important requisite," Gentiloni said, according to the sources. "We often speak about the importance of dialogue with unions and businesses. Dialogue is strong when it produces results".