Meloni claims measures for employment but forgets poor work. And he is silent on the government’s mandate “for fair wages” which has been in the Senate since December

What is striking, in those 6 minutes and 37 seconds of video, are above all what is left unsaid. Also for May Day Giorgia Meloni chooses – as is now usual – to intervene without cross-examination, via message on social media. Absent from the press conference called after the council of ministers which launched the Cohesion with the Legislative Decree […]

What is striking, in those 6 minutes and 37 seconds of video, are above all the unsaid. Also for May Day Giorgia Meloni chooses – as is now usual – to intervene without contradiction, via message on social media. Absent from the press conference called after the council of ministers which launched the Cohesion decree with the reductions in contributions for those who hire young people and women and the criticized “Befana bonus“, the day after the prime minister claims the record data on employment and the government’s measures to “defend purchasing power of workers” and “create new jobs”. But, in addition to misquoting a non-existent “redistribution of wealth“, forget the other side of the coin.

In celebrating the good performance of the labor market and the increase in stable contracts, Meloni pulls the President of the Republic by the jacket Sergio Mattarella thanking him for having “welcomed” the data. But he omits that the head of state, immediately afterwards, asked “not to forget the phenomenon of jobs precarious And underpaid” and the low level remunerative of young people’s first entry into the world of work”. That part of the speech seems to have escaped her. Thus, in celebrating Labor Day, fly over on the fact that in Italy millions of employees earn less than 60% of the median wage – they are therefore technically “working poor” – and that today on average real wages are around 13% lower than pre-Covid. Reason why the absolute poverty has spread precisely among families in which the reference person is an employee.

The leader of the Brothers of Italy boasts the “concrete answers” given, according to him, by the government to Italians “and in particular to those who roll up their sleeves every day and contribute to the wealth of our nation with their work”. But he doesn’t remember that from December 12th delegation to the government to “intervene in matters of workers’ compensation and collective bargaining” in order to guarantee “the implementation of the right of every worker to a proportionate and sufficient remuneration enshrined in Article 36 of the Constitution” lies in commission at Senate without the examination having begun. Yet that delegation was strongly desired by its majority, which gave birth to it last November by rewriting with an amendment the proposal to legal minimum wage written by the opposition. The text approved by the Chamber provided that the government would approve delegated decrees within six months aimed at “ensuring fair and equitable remuneration for workers” and “stimulating renewal of national collective agreements of work in compliance with the times established by the social partners, in the interests of the workers”. The minister Marina Elvira Calderonewhich had announced actions on that front, remains silent.

To the deaths at work Meloni doesn’t even spare a thought. On the other hand, she says she is satisfied with the renewal of the old tax cuts for those who hire young people and women (this time financed with European funds because the plate is crying) and for the aid for starting up entrepreneurial activities. And you do not fail to remember the main measure launched on May 1st 2023 together with the dismantling of citizenship income: the increase in the cutting the tax wedge for those with incomes up to 35 thousand euros. Then he reviews the other support measures, since the merger of the first two Irpef brackets to cutting taxes on productivity bonuses. But he forgets that the Economics and finance document of his government, compiled only in the trend part, does not foresee its extension to 2025 except as “wishful thinking” based on the need to find the necessary coverage without increasing the deficita road closed off by the new Stability pact approved by the government. As for the “zeroing of contributions for employees with at least two children”, it was always expected to last only for one year.

Finally, the South. It is true, as the Prime Minister says, that the Cohesion decree brings the share of multi-year investment fund to be allocated to the southern regions to encourage their infrastructure. But Meloni makes no mention of the revision of Pnrrwhich eliminated investments for almost 16 billion of which 7.5 in the South. And even less does it mention the Calderoli bill ondifferentiated autonomy arrived in the Chamber on Tuesday, which risks crystallising the territorial spending gaps. “A separation of the roads between Northern territories and Southern territories would lead to serious damage to both”, Mattarella warned yesterday from Calabria. Silence from the government.