Minimum wage, Rizzetto (Fdi): 'Enough propaganda, now on with the proxy: to be voted in the Senate by the end of the month'

"On the minimum wage the PD would do well to abandon propaganda. The bill cannot be calendared in Montecitorio for a technical issue: Article 78 of the Chamber's regulation and Article 51 of the Senate's regulation prohibit the overlapping of bills between one branch and the other of Parliament. And in the Senate, the examination of the delegation to the government on workers' pay and collective bargaining is proceeding. By the end of the month we will go to the vote'. The president of the Chamber of Deputies Labour Committee, Walter Rizzetto (Fratelli d'Italia), rejects the accusations made by the Dem secretary Elly Schlein and by several MPs of the PD and M5S, according to which the right wing is blocking the discussion in the Chamber of Deputies of the popular initiative text (C 2179) for the introduction of a minimum wage of 9 euro per hour.

Instrumental accusations, says Rizzetto. "I cannot ignore the articles of the House and Senate regulations: it would be anarchy that sets a precedent," he explains. Adding another element: "To the measure being examined by Palazzo Madama that has already been approved by the Chamber (in the version that had replaced the oppositions' proposal on the minimum wage with a maxi-amendment and had then remained stationary since December 2023, ed.), there is a bill signed by Tino Magni of Avs, identical to the one demanded by the oppositions. By reconsidering it in Montecitorio, we would also decapitalise the proposal in Palazzo Madama'.

But the majority has not changed its mind on the merits. 'The unspoken in this whole affair,' says the Fdi exponent, 'is that we have already expressed ourselves on that Dl. The long discussion that started in 2023, enriched by the opinion of the Cnel and by the authoritative opinions heard during the hearings, has led to an important awareness: if we set a legal minimum wage, we would run the risk of a flight from quality collective bargaining, the one that already guarantees millions of workers wages above 9 euros per hour'.

For Rizzetto, the battle is another: to give substance to what had been included in the delegation precisely with his amendment, that is, the provision (Article 1, letter a) that the delegated decrees will have to "ensure fair and equitable wage treatments for workers", "this is in absolute adherence to the orientation of the European directive, which pushes for the introduction of the minimum wage by law only in countries that do not have collective bargaining applied to at least 80% of workers. Italy is around 95 per cent'.

He himself, however, acknowledges that it is a matter of 'bargaining that needs to be improved in some areas'. But even this point, in his opinion, is addressed by the delegation, where it prescribes 'stimulating the renewal of national collective labour agreements within the timeframe established by the social partners, in the interest of the workers' and provides for the direct intervention of the Ministry of Labour for each expired agreement. 'This,' argues Rizzetto, 'is the pivotal tool for combating distortions: those who renew contracts, and renew them well, will be rewarded'.