From the heart of Calabria Sergio Mattarella sends a precise signal to the right-centre government, which is preparing to launch differentiated autonomy close to the European elections. He does not mention the reform being examined by Parliament, as is his habit, but explains: «The southern regions today have an income that does not reach that of other national areas. In some respects their citizens benefit from less efficient services. In the South the employment rate is lower than in the Center and the North” and this exacerbates the phenomenon of “depopulation which should be slowed down”. «The development of the Republic needs the relaunch of the South. A separation of roads between northern and southern territories would cause serious damage to both.”
A VERY CLEAR MESSAGE, which arrives on the eve of May 1st. The Head of State, visiting an agri-food district in the Cosenza area, reiterates that work «is not a commodity», but «a basic element of our democratic identity: it is first and foremost freedom from need and a tool for expressing oneself, for realizing oneself in life”. Its «connection with the realization of the human personality gives work a much greater meaning than an economic good; makes it a constitutive element of the common destiny.”
Mattarella speaks to workers and administrators with words that are anything but ritual. And it makes a realistic analysis of the employment situation in Italy, with the many shadows that characterize it: precarious employment, low wages which do not only concern young people and which see Italy bringing up the rear among the large EU countries, the social and territorial disparities still so strong. He underlines the “irrepressible” role of the unions for bargaining and for safeguarding a “universalistic welfare”. And also to restart a social elevator that has been “jammed” for some time. «We live in a season in which the starting conditions determine differences and distances that are not easily recoverable, to the detriment of young people who come from weaker social conditions. It is a serious waste of the vast wealth of intelligence and resources that Italy has at its disposal.”
TO THE INSTITUTIONS and to the government. who yesterday again celebrated the increase in employment rates with Minister Calderone, he issues a warning: «Never feel satisfied until good and full employment is achieved. The positive economic indicators must encourage us to intelligently continue towards economic growth based on equity and cohesion. Labor policies can only be oriented towards a reduction of imbalances.” It’s not just the numbers: “Work”, insists the president, “must be free from conditioning, imbalances and abuses that create marginalisation”.
THE HEAD OF STATE TOUCHES another delicate issue that affects the agri-food sector in particular: the exploitation of migrants. «Gray areas of work that border on illegality, exploitation or even make use of it, generate first of all injustice and, furthermore, insecurity, tensions, conflicts. And they offer spaces to criminal organizations. Supervision, therefore, is a specific duty. On delinquent forms of gangmastering. On the inhuman conditions into which seasonal workers, sometimes without names or identities, are thrown.
HERE IS THE SECOND WARNING to the majority: «The legal management of immigration represents a priority. Italy and Europe have the strength to face it fully. Unfortunately, up to now there has been a lack of foresight and necessary solidarity among the countries of the Union. The hope and, to a significant extent, also the observation, is that greater awareness is developing.” Mattarella cites recent EU decisions which, «although incomplete, have marked the start of a new path, with the very important result of having finally overcome the unsustainable Dublin agreement».
The president also mentions the drama of deaths at work: «We cannot accept the continuous drip of deaths, caused by carelessness, imprudence, risks that should not have been taken. A thousand deaths at work in a year represent an unimaginable tragedy. Each of them – even just one – is unacceptable.”
