Minister for Public Administration Paolo Zangrillo, for the first time military unions sat at a negotiating table for the renewal of a public contract yesterday. With what prospects did the negotiations start?
«The workers in this sector carry out essential functions for the country and we want to give them the right remuneration, defining the agreements as quickly as possible to make up for the delay in the negotiation times inherited from the past. The hopes are therefore the best. Yesterday, after all, is a historic date: having military trade union organizations sit at the table, rather than representative bodies, means affirming a principle of pluralism and trade union democracy, in the wake of our Constitution and community directives.”
Are the resources allocated, 1.5 billion, considered sufficient?
«Of the total 24 billion, over a third of the budget law, around 8 billion, is dedicated to public sector contracts and of these 1.5 billion concern the Security and Defense sector. In the current situation, which in light of the international context and ongoing conflicts is certainly not the best, this is the maximum possible effort. We wanted to pay particular attention to those who President Mattarella rightly defined as “the faces of the Republic” because, with commitment and passion, they support public service for the benefit of all”
Look, the military still has some peculiar characteristics. Overtime is often not paid because the current rules say that the allocations cannot be exceeded and compensatory recoveries can only be granted if the needs of the service allow it. In fact, unlike the Police and other civil forces, there are unpaid hours. Will you solve it?
«Overtime will be one of the central points of the negotiation. It will be necessary to arrive at an adjustment of the economic value with a view to the correct valorisation of the ancillary treatments. We will find the solution.”
Military personnel retire earlier, at 60-62 years of age, and therefore would need supplementary pension provision which currently does not exist. Will answers be possible on these points?
«Supplementary social security, for which the Budget Law finances two specific funds, will certainly be a matter of negotiation or the subject of a specific table».
That of the military is the second table for the renewal of contracts. Healthcare has already started. When will it be the turn of local authorities, central functions and schools?
«The “mother directive” which leads the way to the opening of the three-year negotiation period, and which contains the regulatory and remuneration framework for renewals, was sent to the Aran at the beginning of January and the policy document for the sectors is almost ready central functions and local functions. The first has already been sent to the Ministry of Economy for its opinion. I therefore trust that the times will be rather short. After many years, I want to remind you, we give continuity to the negotiating activity and this is already a success.”
In the latest Def there is a political commitment to renew the tax wedge cut. In many cases, the next increases for state workers risk causing the income threshold of 35 thousand euros to be exceeded, beyond which the tax exemption will be lost. This would cancel out the increases in paychecks. Are you thinking of a solution?
«It is an automatic effect of the tax advantage. Years ago, in a similar situation, to avoid this, an element of equalization of remuneration was thought of, whereby the resources of the collective agreements were distributed in a differentiated percentage manner. However, this is a choice that is naturally left to the negotiating table.”
The one-off advance paid in December had been sterilised, it did not increase income. Couldn’t this also be the way?
«A solution of this type must, obviously, be agreed with the Ministry of Economy, because it presupposes additional financing. In any case, it is necessary to guarantee the economic sustainability of any solution and, also in light of the enormous effort made with the budget law, the margins are very narrow.”
A debate that has arisen in the public sector is that of the 4-day week. In the private sector several large companies are experimenting with it, in the public sector 1 billion hours of work would be lost. Is it unsustainable?
«In a country that has been suffering from a significant delay in terms of productivity for decades, the question must be asked: can we afford it? This means that we must work intensely to recover efficiency, as some excellent organizational entities have done. Only then will we be able to think of innovative solutions.”
Despite the unblocking of turnover and 170 thousand hirings last year, most administrations declare staff shortages of around 30 percent. Will these staff gaps ever be filled?
«We are recovering from the dramatic decline in human capital resulting from the ten-year block on turnover. The digitalisation of recruitment paths today allows us to quickly recover lost ground. A program of over 150,000 placements per year over the next four years is an ambitious but achievable goal. We are making it happen.”
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