In addition to having brought together for the first time six trade unions active on both sides of the border (Cgil, Cisl, Uil, Ocst, Unia and Syna as well as the interregional trade union council and a representation from Valais and Grisons), yesterday morning’s mobilization before Pirellino he certified that on the “health tax” – which the Lombardy Region will apply to “old” border workers from 1 January 2025 – there is a risk of a legal tug of war unprecedented in the history of border dynamics.
The border guards in the square. The intervention of the Ocst.
Scenario
This is due to the fact that the scenario envisaged in front of 150 cross-border workers – a good number given the rain – is that of an appeal to the Constitutional Court, in what the unions have defined as «a very complex process that will not do anyone any good. It is a tax in all respects because it affects wages, not once, but forever”, the unions specified, united as perhaps never before.
Giuseppe Augurusa thought of summarizing the concept by explaining that «this tax, based on the legal opinion requested by the trade unions, violates three principles, namely the universality of healthcare treatment, international obligations and last but not least violates the principle of double taxation, this is because it taxes again what has already been taxed at source”.
Frontier workers in the square. The intervention of the CGIL.
Cgil, Cisl and Uil and so the Ticino (and Swiss) trade unions Ocst, Unia and Syna asked the Government two weeks before the vote for the European elections “to stop, through a decree or in any case a provision that eliminates this tax”.
Position
«We also ask the Lombardy Region to review its position and protect its citizens», is the summary of Augurusa, national secretary of the CGIL Frontalieri (at his side Matteo Mandressi). Furthermore, at the moment without the sensitive data provided by the Cantons (Ticino, Grisons and Valais), this tax cannot be applied (the alternative is self-certification).
Present – together with the president of the Association of Italian Border Municipalities Massimo Mastromarino – was the MP Chiara Braga and the regional councilor Angelo Orsenigo. «Different solutions are needed to retain workers on the Italian side of the border. Certainly not incentives deriving from the “health tax” – remarked Marco Contessa, national cross-border manager of the CISL -. These solutions go hand in hand with fairly paid work and quality work. The alternative is to look for something different across the border. Nurses – to cite a case in point – don’t flee to Switzerland just for the pay.
Word then to Andrea Puglia, deputy cantonal secretary of Ocst: «The “health tax” represents yet another violation of the new agreement on cross-border workers. We have obtained more than one opening from Bern to re-discuss the topic, but we need to convene the mixed commission as soon as possible.”
Impact
The testimonies of two cross-border workers were also of great impact. Finally, it should be noted that according to what was reported yesterday by Ticinonews.ch, if the application of the “health tax” from January 1st materializes, the Swiss Embassy in Rome would be ready to intervene with the competent ministries, as this provision would go against the dictates of the bilateral agreements between the two countries.
