VIDEO | The Ugl says: “Confirm the tax wedge, no to the battle with the Jobs Act”

Director Nico Perrone interviews Paolo Capone, general secretary of Ugl

ROME – Helping incomes, as well as employment; “confirm the cut in the tax wedge for next year too”; teach “safety at work” in middle schools and no to the “rearguard battle” for the abolition of the Jobs Act. Paolo Capone, general secretary of the Ugl, talks about work to everything round in a video interview with the Dire agency.

Positive employment data but poor wages, how do the two aspects combine? “Meanwhile, the positive fact is that there is more work – responds Capone – the March survey carried out by Istat speaks of 0.2% more than the previous month. Good employment, because they are in permanent contracts are increasing and fixed-term contracts are decreasing. GDP is also growing, so the country is catching up compared to other European countries. These are figures that give rise to hope, but while there is no growth in employment instead there is an increase in the salary and availability of each individual worker”. 

“IN THE LAST 5 YEARS, POWER OF ‘BUY DOWN 5 POINTS”

Capone underlines: “Istat data also says that in the last ten years the purchasing power of Italian workers’ wages has decreased by 5 points, while our German and French worker colleagues have increased by over 30%. It is evident that there have been somewhat timid contract renewal policies on the part of both Confindustria and the large employers’ associations, but above all also by the large unions. Here – he continues – we must reverse this trend the government with the cut in the tax wedge, and we hope that it will confirm it for next year, to lighten the burden of taxes on workers’ paychecks and restore, above all, to those with incomes up to 35 thousand euros, the lowest ones, a greater availability of money for compensate for what wages were not able to fully do in the negotiations”.

SAFETY AT WORK: “IT-NEEDS TO TEACH IT IN SCHOOLS”

Speaking of workplace safety, Capone recalls that “in Italy there are three deaths a day, an unacceptable number. We have cutting-edge legislation, but it has not solved all the problems. It is The time has come to teach workplace safety from middle school onwards.” On the referendum for the abolition of the Jobs Act promoted by the CGIL, Capone shakes his head: “It’s a rearguard battle – he says – it would be better to focus on the new jobs that will interact more with artificial intelligence and automation”.