Intersind reaffirms the need to change the welfare state with the consensus of the social partners

Welfare and flexibility were the central themes of the annual assembly of Intersind, the employers' organisation for state-controlled companies, held in July 1997.

The Intersind employers' organisation was established almost 40 years ago to represent state-controlled companies within the IRI (Istituto per la ricostruzione industriale, Institute for the Reconstruction of Industry) Group. In 1994, Intersind joined Confindustria- the private sector employers' confederation - to contribute to the unity of employers' representation. Intersind's aim was to become the specific federation of service networks like Alitalia and Telecom, while also maintaining in the meantime its role in the manufacturing sectors, in particular in metalworking, where it negotiates an industry-wide agreement for state-controlled companies.

Following confirmation of his role as Intersind's president at the association's annual assembly which took place in Rome on 9 July 1997, Agostino Paci reaffirmed the traditional line of Intersind with reference to the main questions under discussion in Italy - from welfare reform to the assessment of the July 1993 central tripartite agreement on incomes policy and bargaining. Intersind's approach centres on the search for consensus between the social partners as the necessary condition to allow for processes of change in social relationships, protecting, at the same time, companies' interests.

On the subject of the reform of the social security system (IT9703303F), Mr Paci observed that in order to reach an agreement between all the parties concerned, "something has to be willing to yield to the crucial necessity of having a less expensive, more efficient and fairer social security system". Concerning labour flexibility, he said that it is necessary "to continue the flexibility policy, with a system of rules based on the law and, above all, the bargaining system, keeping in mind nevertheless that in this field it is not possible to pass from excessive regulation to no regulation at all".

With reference to the relationship between Intersind and Confindustria, Mr Paci said: "The integration process ... has not been easy and is still taking place. After three years we have managed to demonstrate that we are the bearers of no other philosophy than that of defending and evaluating the interests of those that we are representing," bringing the need for a greater representation of the productive system into the private employers' organisations.

Participating in the assembly were the Labour Minister, Tiziano Treu, and the vice president of Confindustria, Carlo Callieri, who in particular insisted on the need to accelerate the processes of change in the welfare state and the industrial relations system.