Because Trentin was against the minimum wage
Here are the reasons (still valid) to be against the legal minimum wage as was Bruno Trentin. The article by Giuliano Cazzola
Yesterday, on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of Bruno Trenin, with whom I had the honor of working for a long time, both in the Fiom and in the CGIL, I recalled an episode of the 1991 Confederal Congress, during which Bruno confirmed his clear opposition to the introduction of a statutory minimum wage. I correctly specified that I had no intention of quoting Trentin then for now, with reference to the ongoing debate on the minimum wage. Even if Bruno's opinions on the matter were well known and consolidated in those distant times, I do not feel authorized to argue that now they would always be the same, in the new context of the labor market and industrial relations.
I found – thanks to Michele Tiraboschi's help – a source that confirms what I said yesterday and highlights the reasons for Trentin's opposition: reasons that are still valid today. It is an article (see the end of the text) written for the Unit by the late Bruno Ugolini, the cantor of Trentin, the journalist with whom he had an indissoluble relationship of esteem and collaboration. I recall that in 1969, the historic metalworkers' dispute – from the outset ended up with the Ministry of Labor through the mediation of Minister Carlo Donat Cattin – was followed up by the Roman editorial staff of the Unit . But Trentin demanded that Bruno Ugolini be appointed despite belonging to the Milanese editorial staff: that partnership never stopped. Ugolini became, together with Giorgio Lauzi dell' Avanti , the reference first of the Fiom, then of the FLM and finally of the CGIL.
Returning to the theme, in the article reproduced, Ugolini comments on an initiative of the Third component of the CGIL (the militants of the various humanities of the left, neither communist nor socialist), whose leader was Antonio Lettieri, who, in the introductory report, had put forward a proposal intelligent, for those times, anticipating by several decades what would happen now if the legal minimum wage were adopted. Basically, in the context of a profound revision of the bargaining structure, Lettieri proposed that a sort of minimum wage fulfill the function then performed by the ''escalator'', an institution now on the verge of extinction and which the following year, although amid controversy, it was abolished. Today's trade unionists have not yet managed to understand that today's minimum wage would be nothing more than a new sliding scale with all its negative effects on inflation and bargaining. Trentin had been invited together with the socialist leader Ottaviano Del Turco and the secretary of the CISL Raffaele Morese. Bruno, as was his habit, was the only one to enter into the merits. After expressing his appreciation for Lettieri's initiative, he made criticisms of the minimum wage proposal that could be made even now without changing a single word. He even demonstrated a sharp irony, defining any recipients of the minimum wage (smig) as "smigati", asking questions that have not yet been answered.
Who will force the entrepreneur to give more than the smig through bargaining? Who will be able to guarantee that the higher wage than the minimum is negotiated and does not become a benevolent concession of the boss? In short – concluded Ugolini – to Trentin it did not seem a good deal for the union to periodically negotiate the cost of living using the smig, instead of the escalator.
Obviously there would be some discussion about the role that Bruno recognized to the escalator in the composition of salaries. But his concern that the "smigati" could have become "marginal wage earners" in the labor market was and is well founded. And the union would end up abdicating its essential role as "wage authority".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/primo-piano/perche-trentin-era-contrario-al-salario-minimo/ on Thu, 24 Aug 2023 13:53:06 +0000.