Half a million signatures on minimum wage petition - Left

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 18 - Italy's letfwing and centre-left opposition parties said Wednesday they had gathered over half a million signatures on a petition to introduce in Italy a minimum wage of at least nine euros an hour.
    The petition is still open, they said.
    The news was announced at a press conference at the House by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), the leftwing populist 5-Star Movement (M5S), the centrist Azione party, the MOre Europe party, and the Green-Left Alliance.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni made a tentative overture to the opposition on the minimum wage this summer but then put the ball in the court of the National Council for Economics and Labour (CNEL), which last week said wage levels should be left to collective bargaining.
    Meloni's ruling Brothers of Italy (FdI) party on Wednesday called on the House to decide whether the opposition parties' bill on the minimum wage should be sent back to the committee stage.
    photo: PD leader Elly Schlein (ANSA).