Tripartite negotiations over the reform of Italy's welfare and social security system started in earnest in July 1997. Two main points of tension have so far arisen - pensions and flexibility in recruitment and redundancy.
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Tripartite negotiations over the reform of Italy's welfare and social security system started in earnest in July 1997. Two main points of tension have so far arisen - pensions and flexibility in recruitment and redundancy.
The negotiations on welfare reform which started on 18 July 1997 between the Government, trade unions and employers (IT9706112N) will come to a close only after the summer holidays, probably by September 1997, though there will be a first, provisional assessment at the end of July.
The first steps towards welfare reform (IT9703303F) took place through a series meetings on specific issues: labour and training; inland revenue; welfare support provisions; the health system; and social security. The main tensions between trade unions and employers were evident on welfare support provisions. The last meeting of this first phase, that on social security, was positive, as the Government, agreeing to one of the trade union requests, announced its wish to put into action the division between assistance (assistenza) - provided in various ways by the state - and social insurance support (previdenza) - resulting from workers and company contributions. This distinction, foreseen by the legislation already in force, reduces, but does not annul, the deficit of the main public body providing pensions, the National Institute for Social Insurance (Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale, INPS). Besides this, the trade unions do not deem that all of the "assistance" items have been taken out from the budget for pensions. A technical commission made up of social partners' experts will discuss this subject.
For now Cgil, Cisl and Uil, the three most important trade union confederations, have appreciated the methodology of the Government's approach, while the Confindustria employers' confederation - which, like the trade unions, has already put forward its own proposals for the reorganisation of the social security system - made no comment.
Tension is high at present, with rapidly expanding controversy, following Confindustria's request to introduce "new flexibility elements, when entering and leaving the labour market". This statement has been interpreted by many observers as a request for a "freedom of redundancy", more radical and generalised than the provisions on workforce reduction in the cases of crisis and company reorganisation included in the present legislation. The reaction of the trade unions has been tough. Furthermore, while the Labour Minister, Tiziano Treu, has tried to play down the situation, criticisms of Confindustria have been made by the Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, who asked the employers not to move away from the tradition of European social policy, as well as by the President of the Republic. Confindustria's president, Giorgio Fossa, though confirming his request for flexibility, has observed that no one wants the "Wild West" - that is to say, the abolition of any rules. Instead he feels that new rules are needed, and in this way he has scaled down the controversy on a topic that could firmly set the social partners against one another.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1997), Tripartite talks on welfare reform continue, article.
