Expired contracts, the League: wage adjustment at 50% of inflation with retroactive effect

For non-renewed contracts, the automatic adjustment of wages to 50 per cent of inflation is to be counted from the expiration of the contract. The retroactive recognition of the sum that the company must pay as a lump-sum advance to the worker whose contract has expired for more than a year is provided for in the package of amendments presented by the League to the 1st May Decree, as anticipated by the Undersecretary for Labour, Claudio Durigon: "We want to strengthen bargaining and increase the purchasing power of workers' salaries by giving the certainty that the increase will be triggered when the contract has expired.

The measure is envisaged for collective bargaining agreements that expire after the entry into force of the decree on 1 May, and for contracts that have already expired since 1 January 2027. The original text of the decree stipulates that in the event of non-renewal of the collective labour agreements within the first 12 months following the natural expiry date, salaries are adjusted at 30% of the Ipca change; retroactivity was foreseen in the draft decree, but was later removed.

It remains to be seen whether the new wording deposited by the League will stand the test of admissibility in the Chamber of Deputies' Labour Committee, which is examining the Ddl (decree law) converting Decree no. 62 into law, rapporteurs being the President of the Labour Committee Walter Rizzetto (Fdi), Tiziana Nisini (Lega) and Chiara Tenerini (Fi).

'As Fratelli d'Italia we intend to strengthen the discipline of the rider - explains Rizzetto-, the aim is to make the criteria for qualifying the relationship clearer and to ensure adequate protection. With regard to the overall economic treatment, we intend to contribute to a clear definition of the minimum contents, in full respect of collective bargaining and the role of the social partners to ensure certainty of application. We intend to confirm the isopension to 2029. As rapporteur, I reserve the right to intervene also in the continuation of the examination in the House'.

The isopension (the instrument expiring at the end of the year, allowing private-sector employees to leave work early for up to a maximum of seven years) also features in Forza Italia's package of amendments, Tenerini explains. Furthermore, for the 31 October deadline for the transfer of the accruing severance pay and the employer's contribution to any supplementary pension scheme, Fi proposes postponing it to 31 December. For workers buyout operations (an operation in which workers take over the company in which they work in order to save it), Fi proposes changing the granting of the Naspi from the current two tranches (70 per cent immediately and 30 per cent later, conditional on business continuity) to a 100 per cent disbursement of unemployment benefits.