Labour, fair wages and contracts in the 1st May Decree

"Dialogue with the social partners remains essential," reads a Ministry of Labour communiqué released. "The common goal is to build a more inclusive, secure and dynamic labour market, capable of transforming employment growth into widespread social welfare for the entire country.

The Decree of 1 May is expected to include an extension of the bonus that finances the hiring or conversion to open-ended contracts carried out (at the moment) by 30 April 2026 of young people up to 35 years of age, granting the company a contribution rebate of 100 per cent in the event of a net increase in employment, otherwise the contribution rebate drops to 70 per cent.

The maximum exemption is EUR 500 per month for hirings throughout the country, rising to EUR 650 in the regions of the ZES, i.e. Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, Sardinia, Marche and Umbria. Work is also underway to extend the duration of the bonus for hiring disadvantaged women, due to expire on 31 December 2026, recognised in the form of total exemption from social security contributions up to a maximum of EUR 650 per month, with the requirement of a net increase in employment.

Also under consideration is an intervention to strengthen the protections of digital platform workers, primarily riders, with the transposition of EU directive 2024/2831 that, among other novelties, triggers the presumption of a subordinate contractual relationship between a digital platform and the worker in the presence of certain elements relating to the provision of work (if facts are found that indicate direction and control), imposing transparency in the use of algorithms, with human supervision.

Measures to increase safety in the workplace will also be introduced in the text, with a 'greater extension of family-friendly protections' and a 'more incisive fight against the phenomena of exploitation and 'caporalato'.

A check is also underway on a number of measures contained in the very expensive draft that has been on the tables of the government's technicians for days, and which envisages the extension of a number of measures of the 2026 manoeuvre. There are plans to confirm to 1 January 2027 the application of the 5% flat rate for salary increases of contract renewals signed from 1 January 2024 to workers with an employee income of up to EUR 33,000.

There are also plans to extend, with effect from 1 January 2028, the 1% tax exemption on productivity bonuses and profit-sharing payments within the overall limit of EUR 5,000. There are also plans to extend, as of 1 January 2027, the application of the 15 per cent rate on bonuses and allowances for night work, public holidays, shift allowances, or overtime within the annual limit of EUR 1,500. Workers will be able to opt, in whole or in part, for the conversion of performance bonuses and profit-sharing sums into company welfare benefits, benefiting from total tax and contribution exemption for the sums converted within EUR 5,000.

'The intervention,' the Ministry of Labour's communiqué goes on to say, 'is also urgent in the light of the international crisis context, which exposes the world of work to a "stress" that it is the government's task to prevent and tackle with determination, within a structural vision that aims to make work increasingly decent and remunerative.