Fair pay instead of minimum wage, the Government's plan

The majority accelerates on fair pay . The Minister of Labor, Marina Calderone, has assured that the delegation law , as an alternative to the popular proposal on the minimum wage presented by the broad camp, is ready to return to the Chamber within a few weeks.

“The government and the majority are fully convinced to move forward quickly,” explained the competent minister, predicting the final green light by the end of May.

The Fair Pay Act

The delegation law on fair pay is therefore expected at Palazzo Madama after more than a year from its approval by the Chamber.

The green light from Montecitorio had arrived on December 5, 2023, in conjunction with the discussion on the popular bill on the minimum wage presented by the PD, M5S and AVS: the opposition amendment, which aimed at introducing 9 euros gross per hour as the minimum wage threshold in Italy, had been rejected and in fact replaced by the Government's maxi-amendment , which transformed the PdL into a delegation law.

A provision regarding “delegations to the government regarding workers’ remuneration and collective bargaining” which, according to majority sources interviewed by Ansa, is considered “an optimal point of arrival”.

What does the delegation law provide?

The Executive's maxi-amendment eliminated articles 2 to 8, rewriting article 1 from scratch, in which every reference to the legal minimum wage of 9 euros was deleted, introducing guidelines to be implemented with one or more legislative decrees.

The architecture of the measure includes among the main interventions the identification of the national contracts most frequently adopted for each category type, through which to establish the minimum economic treatment for each type of worker.

For those who are not included in any collective bargaining agreement, the minimum wage of the most similar category is applied.

The delegation law also provides for the introduction of incentives for the renewal of the Cnnl within the established timeframes, in addition to the revision of the criteria for controlling remuneration and collective bargaining and a promotion of transparency and public information on the matter.

This is an objective that the Executive aims to achieve by streamlining communication between companies and public bodies on salaries and the application of national contracts, for which it will require the acquisition of data on the application of the contract and on the salary treatments actually recognized to workers.

As outlined in the text approved by the Chamber, the delegation to the Government provides for the adoption within six months of legislative decrees aimed at:

• ensure workers receive fair and equitable wages;
• combat underpaid work, also in relation to specific work organisational models and specific categories of workers;
• encourage the renewal of national collective labor agreements in compliance with the deadlines established by the social partners, in the interest of workers;
• to combat unfair competition through the proliferation of contractual systems aimed at reducing labour costs and worker protection (so-called contractual dumping).