Very small traces in the newspapers, a little more - but we always talk about a few dozen lines - on information websites. Instead they are full of news and comments on the Alfano lawsuit, on the diatribes within the majority. And yet, the other evening – when this newspaper had already closed its printing shop – the Chamber finally approved a bill intended to profoundly change the Constitution. Destined to change the working conditions of hundreds of thousands of people. Making them worse, and by a lot. Leaving them unprotected.
What happened? It happened that the Chamber approved, in second reading, the text of what everyone calls the "labour bill". He approved it with an overwhelming majority, in a vote that put the pieces of the right back together. Plus – an important figure – all the deputies of the UDC, none excluded. Against, only the Democrats and the IDV.
Which however - unlike what they announced regarding the Lodo Alfano - in this case they did not promise to build "barricades". And to say, instead, to use the words of Roberta Fantozzi, Labor manager of the PRC, that it is "one of the most serious acts of this legislature".
So serious that President Napolitano had already raised some remarks, in March, on the first draft of the text. The right-wing majority and the "centre" – in this unprecedented alliance which can naturally also count on the support of Bonanni and Angeletti – have instead re-proposed it substantially identical.
But here's what it's all about, in a nutshell. The most alarming measure is the one that introduces new rules on "arbitration". The sphere of competence of the judges is limited - and considerably - and above all the so-called "channel of conciliation" is introduced. To be even clearer: from now on it will be possible for new hires to sign a clause in which the worker and company entrust their disputes to an "arbitrator" and no longer to a judge. An "arbitrator" who can also decide in derogation from the employment contracts. Translated: it means that new hires - it is easy to predict: all new hires, none excluded - will take place with this clause. Which in fact will leave the new employees without any protection. They rewrote the Statute, in short, without even discussing it. And without too much fuss.
And again, it's not over. Thanks to an amendment proposed by deputy Cazzola, of the PDL, the package of rules also eliminates one of the few – if not the only – achievements of centre-left governments: the raising of compulsory schooling to sixteen years. Now, however, we are going back: already at the age of fifteen it will be possible to enter the job. Naturally, provided that everything is disguised as an "apprenticeship".
In describing the rules established by law, the verb is used in the present tense, given that the bill has been approved and is about to enter into force. Perhaps, however, it would be better to use the conditional. Because it is clear – to a little bit to everyone, even to many circles far from the left – that the new rules contain many anti-constitutional aspects. Like the prohibition - for new hires who sign the blackmail clause - to then be able to appeal to a judge.
And it is precisely on the legal ground that the CGIL - which the other evening, just s&rs
