Truths and Lies About Salaries and Citizenship Income
What is said and what is not said about wages, citizenship income, inflation, contracts and more. Giuliano Cazzola's analysis
Is the citizen's income (RdC) – as many argue – a '' competitor '' of Italian companies as regards the hiring of labor?
I do not believe, in general, in this interpretation of the Italian paradox of work that exists and that nobody wants. But the problem of refused work exists and it is serious.
It does not often happen that – in periods of prolonged crisis to the point of predicting an even more uncertain future – the labor market is more in difficulty on the supply side than on the demand side and that this flight is even praised (the so-called great resignation) as a process of human liberation.
It is time to start a truth operation all together because the situation is on the verge of becoming unsustainable.
For what reasons is so much of that work rejected? It is said – the easy answer of the usual unions – because wages are too low. In this regard, it should be remembered that Italian workers are covered to a greater extent than 80% by collective bargaining (which would exempt them from the introduction of the smic), protagonists of which are also the trade unions.
Unlike in the past (but it is necessary to go back decades, the renewals of contracts – in general and especially in the private sectors – have become a purely physiological operation, often without even resorting to strike actions, of a certain significance. Some renewals have been also carried out during the acute phase of the pandemic.
The history of pirate contracts is also overrated. As many as 353 CCNL out of 933 (equal to 38%) were signed by employers and trade union signatories not represented at the CNEL, but these contracts are applied to 33 thousand workers out of over 12 million (about 0.3%). This while the 128 collective agreements signed by employers and trade unions represented at the CNEL, equal to 14% of the CCNL in force, concern just over 10.6 million workers, about 87% of the total number of workers.
Of course, there is a new guest of stone: inflation has reduced the purchasing power of wages, but the resources that the government has allocated for expensive bills and refreshment measures amount to tens of billions. The effects of inflation are a serious problem to be addressed; but not as the trade unions propose; that is, by repealing the reference to the HICP (for which imported inflation is sterilized: such as higher energy costs) precisely when those conditions are occurring as a result of which the application of that indicator was envisaged.
In short, if a specific mechanism has been agreed to be used when inflation phenomena independent of internal reasons arise, it does not seem a smart choice to prevent its application just when the problem becomes current.
Then there is another aspect that deserves an answer: when a job is rejected because it is not adequately paid, a question would arise that I have never heard: okay, dear young man, you are right not to be humiliated by a low pay (the extent of which is questionable, considering that, for the beneficiaries of the RdC, a job offer is considered appropriate, if paid with 858 euros per month). But how do you manage to lead your usual lifestyle, giving up those few euro “ cursed and immediately ''?
Here, where are the '' divanisti ''. In the family, perhaps without the RdC because the ISEE level of the nucleus is higher than the expected threshold. And it is in the family that they receive food, lodging, washing and ironing (in Totò, in a famous film, they also provided whitewashing, but those were other times); then maybe a '' argent de poche '' not inferior to the RdC is added. Obviously, this is not a general rule, but they are widespread cases in a '' mass noble society '' (copyright Luca Ricolfi).
Finally, there is a final aspect to consider confirming that the beneficiaries of the DRC cannot replace the missing manpower. Of the 3.4 million earners of the RdC, about one million are considered '' employable '' and are subjected to the path of the labor agreement. We know that this is the part of the RdC that did not work, due to the obvious flaw that that measure had: performing at the same time a function of social inclusion (the fight against poverty), of active labor policies (the offer of at least three job opportunities) and to contrast precarious relationships (as regards the offer of permanent jobs). Beyond the serious inadequacies of the system of active policies, the real reason for the failure of access to work is another.
The beneficiaries of the RoC are not employed primarily because they are not employable; in fact, they largely lack those minimum schooling requirements, social relationships and work experiences that would make them suitable even for unskilled jobs but still subject to an organization and a work community. In this regard, ANNA, the association of navigators (the only ones destined to pay, sooner or later, due to the error of the legislator) has published a very detailed survey on the social characteristics of the beneficiaries.
In the same vein, also the report of the ministerial commission chaired by Chiara Saraceno has grasped the crucial question of the failure of the RdC: '' the beneficiaries of the RdC, even when theoretically "employable" often do not have recent work experience and have very low qualifications . Furthermore, the sectors in which they could find employment – construction, tourism, catering, logistics – are often characterized by a strong seasonality. The criteria currently used to define a job offer as adequate, and therefore non-refusable, do not adequately take these aspects into account '' while it would be a priority to encourage the construction of a work experience. Therefore, even the quality of the work that is offered should consider “ at least temporarily, congruous not only employment contracts that have a minimum duration of not less than three months '', but also those for a shorter time, provided they are not less than a month , '' to encourage people who are often very distant from the labor market to start entering and gaining experience ''.
This is why – beyond the acronyms – it would be appropriate to return to Rei's logic and priorities. And making the reformed institution a tool for social inclusion: being a citizen aware of one's rights and equipped with basic training (confidence in technologies is transversal and necessary in all work activities, even unskilled ones) is the prerequisite for becoming also a worker. If we want to return to the classics: it is a question of accompanying the condition of the underclass with the dignity of the proletariat.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/verita-e-bugie-su-salari-e-reddito-di-cittadinanza/ on Sat, 18 Jun 2022 10:03:39 +0000.