Manoeuvre, CGIL and UIL confirm general strike. Meloni to unions: minimum pensions revalued above inflation

Government on one side, trade unions (CGIL and UIL) on the other. "In 2025 and 2026, as in the two previous years, minimum pensions will also be revalued above the level of inflation indicated by Istat," said prime minister Giorgia Meloni in her introductory speech during the meeting at Palazzo Chigi with the trade unions. "The rules regarding early exits from work," she added, "remain almost unchanged. With regard to taxes, 'the shift from four to three Irpef rates is made structural, with the unification of the first two income brackets. It is clearly the government's intention to intervene on the next income bracket as well, but this will obviously depend on the resources that we will have available and that will also arrive at the closure of the arrangement with creditors,' the premier went on to explain. Cgil and Uil, however, confirmed the general strike against the manoeuvre on 29 November. "It was not possible to make a step forward at the meeting with the government," according to the general secretary of the CGIL Maurizio Landini. "The government has reconfirmed that what it has presented in Parliament is the manoeuvre, that the margins are those, that the possible spaces for modification are limited" and "we confirm our judgement of a very bad Budget law and that it does not address and does not give a future to our country," he added, explaining that the salary increase for the public service "cannot be the 6% proposed in the separate agreement, when inflation is 17%." "The only revenue that is confirmed, the only spending that is increased is arms and defence spending. Even saying that they will fight in Europe to ask for this expenditure to be excluded from the stability pact. So why don't we ask for it for healthcare? Then why don't we ask for it for schools? Why don't we ask it for investments, for industrial policies, given that our industrial system is in danger of falling apart?

At the meeting, the Prime Minister clarified the executive's line. "This time too, we have decided to concentrate resources on a number of priorities: support for low and medium incomes, support for work, incentives for families with children, reduction of the tax burden, increased resources for healthcare and the renewal of public employees' contracts. We have decided to confirm and strengthen the main measures introduced in previous years, in particular relating to the world of work and family support, making some of them structural, as, moreover, was requested above all by trade union organisations'.

In particular, the action on the tax wedge was emphasised. "I remember that, when we came to government two years ago," the permier said, "many claimed that we would not be able to confirm the cut in the contribution wedge expiring on 31 December 2022. Instead, not only did we confirm it, but in mid-2023 we strongly reinforced it, and then confirmed it with the 2024 budget law. Now, with the new manoeuvre, we are making it structural and extending its benefits to the approximately 1.3 million workers with incomes between €35 and €40,000 per year, albeit with a decalage, again responding to an issue that had been correctly posed by the trade unions on the obvious discrimination of workers who earned a few euros more than others but, unlike those others, did not benefit from the wedge cut. As you know, moreover, we no longer intervene on the contribution aspect, but on the tax aspect, and this also allows us to obtain another advantage, namely to avoid the risk that part of the cut could cause an increase in the tax burden'.

"We also differentiate the way in which it is used according to income. Employees with a total income of no more than 20,000 euro were granted a bonus; those with a total income of 20,000 to 40,000 euro were granted an additional deduction from their gross tax. The effect on the worker's paycheck remains the same. We confirm the contribution exemption for employed mothers with at least two children. And we also extend this measure to self-employed women (excluding those who have opted for the flat-rate scheme) who receive business or self-employment income,' the premier added.

Chapter Superbonus and building bonuses. "Building bonuses are handled with common sense," said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni again during the meeting between the government and trade unions on the manoeuvre. "A distinction is made between first house and second house: the renovation bonus is confirmed at 50 per cent on the first house while it drops to 36 per cent from the second house onwards. With regard to the Superbonus, the possibility of spreading the credits linked to 110% over ten years is also envisaged for expenses made in 2023, so as to protect taxpayers who would have risked losing the share of deductions not used in the year".