The minimum wage is a false problem
What the very ideological battle over the legal minimum wage hides. The speech by Marco Pepe, national councilor of Unimpresa
A company, in unsuspecting times, had declared its position on the subject of the minimum wage. Collective bargaining has been the most appropriate tool for managing relations between employers and workers for 40 years now. Of course, not all bargaining fully covers all types of work, but it does not happen by chance. The uncovered sectors, such as for example in the private security sector and cleaning companies, are the tender that tip the balance and not trade union relations.
In the sector of riders and domestic collaborators, the small economy is the tip of the balance and not trade union relations. The large trade union organizations have known this very well for years; it is no coincidence that in 2020 then Minister of Labor Hon. Damiano, in the case of reducing the cost of work, he proposed a minimum wage. It was immediately rejected by trade unions and employers' organisations.
WHY IS THE MINIMUM WAGE TALKING ABOUT?
So why is the issue of the minimum wage re-proposed in such an overbearing way today? In the opinion of the writer it is certainly not for the best interests of the country, but only one of the many and unjustified battles and badly spent energies, of those who think that by discovering the nerve of categories of workers "unprotected" by bargaining, one can put trouble a government. The respect that Unimpresa has for all workers and companies is independent of such useless battles. Yet solutions have been proposed by many.
One solution could be to push the Government to stimulate negotiations in these sectors by guaranteeing the negotiations that take into account the variables mentioned above; contracts and small economy.
Another solution, not new, is to remodulate the "parameters" of union increases by reducing the top levels to the advantage of the lowest levels. This topic falls within the strict competence of whoever renews the contracts. Let's not forget that we are talking about low professional levels which, as a rule, remain at these levels for a maximum of 2 years.
THE REAL THEME
On the other hand, it is different to face the real problem that lies behind the minimum wage argument: that is, who are or must be the recognized representative subjects and can therefore be the only ones who by law can sign national contracts. The latter is a very delicate theme that all insiders know well. Discussing it with the Parties, together with the Government, would be good, according to Unimpresa, for the economic and social growth of the country as a whole.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/salario-minimo-falso-problema-unimpresa/ on Thu, 10 Aug 2023 14:51:46 +0000.