Majority gives power to government to legislate on fair pay

(see related stories on minimum wage) (ANSA) - ROME, NOV 16 - The parliamentary majority on Thursday presented an amendment to an opposition bill on the minimum wage giving the government power to legislate on collective bargaining and workers' pay.
    The legislation is to be adopted on the proposal of the labour minister within six months, according to the proposed amendment.
    The stated aim is to to "guarantee the implementation of the right of every worker to a proportionate and adequate wage, as enshrined in Article 36 of the Constitution".
    Under the amendment the labour ministry would also have power to intervene directly to establish the minimum economic treatment to be applied in the event of collective contracts that have expired and have not been renewed and for sectors for which no collective contract is in place.
    Former premier and leader of the opposition Five Star Movement (M5S), Giuseppe Conte, one of the proponents of the bill to introduce a minimum wage of nine euros gross an hour, said the amendment would "humiliate" parliament and that the government is doing everything possible to thwart an initiative that he described as a "norm of civilization".
    "They are doing this to block and deflate this wave that has been rising in the country," said Conte.
    "They have contrived in every way, with regulatory gimmicks, to try to push it away," he added.
    While saying such a minimum wage could be applied to some categories of workers as part of all-round efforts to combat low salaries, the government has ruled out tackling the problem through a single, generic law and asked the National Council for Economics and Labor (CNEL) to come up with an alternative.
    Last month the CNEL said that wage levels should be set in the "traditional way" of collective bargaining.
    Photo: Former premier and opposition five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte. (ANSA).