Italian Politics:
A dirty job act
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The clause 18 of the Italian Labor Statutehas been disputed in the country’s public debate since the early 2000s. It concerns the firms with more than fifteen employees and regulates the lay-offs. According to the current law, if one is dismissed without a legitimate reason, he can sue his employer. If the Labor Court sentences he is right, he may have the opportunity to be reinstated.
At a glance, it is hard to understand why this particular clause should be considered the source of all evil. Mr. Renzi argues that it should be cancelled because it brings inequality to the system. Italy is made up of many, very small enterprises, and the majority has less then fifteen employees. The Prime Minister thinks that those people have fewer rights than others, and he also wants to reform the very complicated tangle of subsidies,redundancy payments and grants that constitutes the Italian social security circuit. This task is more than urgent, in order to uphold temporary and occasional workers, professionals and artisans. Those citizens used to represent Italy’s productive spine with small businesses, and now are paying for this crisis more than anyone because of the lack of public support for their profiles.
Obviously, the unions are on warpath and jeopardize the government with a general strike. They say it is just another attempt to let employers discharge workers without any explanation but “you’re fired”.