“In a world so devoted to selfishness, faced with this rentier economy, faced with the environmental and social injustices that this contentious policy does not resolve, they ask for peace starting from personal relationships. Social justice is born as a sprout from human relationships and ends up in major political mediations. Human brotherhood must be our great goal.” With these words Emiliano Manfredonia, National President of the ACLI, opened the conference this afternoon in Rome National Council: two days of comparison and discussions on the next activities to be undertaken and on the direction that the ACLI have chosen to take in view of the next National Congress.
Many topics were addressed by the President in his initial report, starting from role that the European Union is called to carry out in this global crisis: “Never before has a Europe that is made is needed peace officer and that knows how to have its own voice, and only one voice, in the international arena. Europe, the entire world, is being swept through by winds of war that threaten people’s lives. This moment of uncertainty requires a return to the fundamental principles of dialogue and international cooperation: this is also required by the international mobilization for peace that emerges, for example, from the occupations on US campuses, which – despite the intolerable and worrying expressions of anti-Semitism – are an expression of pain and indignation for the victims of the now overwhelming Israeli reaction to the carnage of October 7th”.
On to the next ones European elections, Manfredonia drew attention to the now widespread practice of multiple candidatures of people who have programmatically stated that they will not sit in the Strasbourg assembly: “It is an entirely Italian practice, because the political leaders of other European countries do not do this. The fact that the parties are now functional to their leaders is one of the signs of the crisis in politics that we will have the opportunity to talk about again and on which we will make concrete proposals”.
There can be no social justice without respect for the dignity of workers. “The minimum salary It is certainly a possible answer, but it is not enough on its own. In fact, it must not be separated from collective bargaining and industrial relations which, in Italy, have been built over decades of discussion with the social partners and the most representative organisations. For this reason, as Acli, we do not agree to the collection of signatures to arrive at a referendum to repeal the Jobs Act. It can certainly be modified, but we must not lose sight of the objective: to give effective responses to workers, which the referendum could make us lose sight of.”
A free and dignified existence in the workplace is also measured in job security. “We need a strategy that enhances the role of investments, both those directed in safety and those that can be “conditioned” to the same objectives, such as, for example, reward systems in the context of the awarding of public contracts. A new perspective for workplace safety must also include a rethinking of training, perhaps imagining incentives and relief for companies that promote it for their employees, but also a commitment to eliminating chain procurement and subcontracting, where maximum downside coincides with maximum risk”.
Manfredonia then analyzed the Government’s actions, starting from the failed promises in the Budget law, approved in December: “Theand measures that concerned social issues and work were completely disregardedas an example free nursery schools for second children hey funds and implementing decrees for the protection of non-self-sufficiency, or made only temporary. I think, for example, to cutting the tax wedgeapproved not on a structural basis and only for 2024. Then there is the Labor decree of May 1st, made known for Labor Day. Contrary to the adverts, the transition from 3 to 2 Irpef rates, promised by the Government, is not envisaged, nor is the maxi-Irpef-Ires deduction of 120-130%”.
“The thirteenth bonusthe measure obviously lump sum reserved for employees with medium-low incomes and children, has not only been postponed to January 2025, but will also be taxed. So, from the 100 euros that had been announced, it will reduce to around 80 euros. And, paradoxically, it will go to more than one million single-income families up to 28 thousand euros, but not to those with an income of less than 8,500 euros. In addition, they were hiring incentives for young people and women have been extendedwith the deadline set for December 31, 2025. A useful intervention but not representative a structural measure on the labor market”.
For our part, as Acli, we cannot but agree with Pope Francis when he says that “stable and lasting work” is needed, to be clearly contrasted with “jobs so short that they prevent one from planning one’s life” and “low incomes and low protections that seem like the walls of a labyrinth”.
It’s useful a different model, which not only has the aim of increasing employment numbers, but which is based on quality work, not to be constantly postponed into the future, but to be implemented today. For this reason, I believe measures that have foresight and the ambition to go beyond intervention are essential lump sum and temporariness, starting a new course of social and labor policies”.
The Government has operated on the same wavelength the family. “As Acli we have put forward some proposals in this regard: for example, on benefits for couples’ housing independence, but also tax cuts and structural policies that favor the conciliation between work time and care time. The birth rate decline and the migratory phenomenon can find synergistic overlaps, which I don’t think are understood by those who, with far-fetched declarations on the determination of a maximum limit on the presence of foreign students in classes, undermine at the roots every possible integration policy which, in our opinion, country, we need more than ever to try to stop this trend,” explained Manfredonia.
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