An important and significant first step is that taken today between the government and the trade unions with the ‘Pact for the innovation of public work and social cohesion’. It was signed by the Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the Minister for Pa Renato Brunetta and the general secretaries of Cgil, Cisl and Uil, Maurizio Landini, Luigi Sbarra and Pierpaolo Bombardieri at Palazzo Chigi. It was the “first formal meeting opportunity after the formation of the government and I thank you very much” the Premier underlined to the leaders of the trade union confederations, “during the consultations I was able to express to you how much I care about this confrontation and this dialogue” . The Premier did not fail to thank the minister for Pa Renato Brunetta, architect of the pact.
“The smooth functioning of the public sector is at the heart of the smooth functioning of society. If the first works, the second works too. Otherwise, society becomes more fragile, more unfair,” said Draghi. “The Pact is certainly an event of great importance for the method, for the content, for this relationship of dialogue that exists. But it is, let us remember, the first step. Much, if not almost everything, remains to be done”, he said. Draghi, indicating two priority issues to be resolved in the PA, that of personal data and training.
“The average age of civil servants today is almost 51 years, while twenty years ago it was 43 and a half”, a factor that has led to “a progressive weakening of the demographic structure of the public administration”; in addition, the fact that “48 euros per person are spent on public sector training: I said ‘well’ ironically. And only one day is devoted to the training of public personnel”, the Premier noted.
social cohesion and the creation of good employment pillars of any reform
In addition to the pandemic which “made us reflect on many aspects of our way of life, but certainly revealed the centrality of the public sector,” we must consider the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. These events require new professional skills, investments in training and new forms of work “underlined Draghi.
The Pact in fact establishes that “social cohesion and the creation of good employment will be the pillars of every reform and every public investment envisaged by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan”. A pact that among its objectives has the recognition of the Public Administration of the “central role of development engine and catalyst for recovery”. Furthermore, the simplification of processes and a massive investment in human capital as “indispensable tools to mitigate the historical disparities of the country”. Again, the Pact aims to ensure the active participation of workers in innovation in the public sectors, supported by investments in digitization and to launch a new season of trade union relations that focuses on confrontation with organizations and completes the contractual renewals of the three-year period 2019- 2021.
“The choice of President Mario Draghi to enhance today’s agreement with his signature – said Brunetta – places this new beginning under the best auspices, for the country and for its ability to focus on the responsibility of all parties to build a National Recovery and Resilience Plan that invests in the State and its servants “. And speaking of “a moment of responsibility for all” was the leader of the CGIL Maurizio Landini, underlining that “when we talk about PA we also speak of the right to health and knowledge as very important elements. This means making the country grow and giving a message of hope and trust. It’s time to do it, “he said.
Cgil Cisl Uil, ‘it is the moment of responsibility, a new approach not lowered from above’
Full satisfaction was also expressed by the other union leaders. Luigi Sbarra, new secretary of the CISL, applauds the agreement because from the point of view of the method “we are entering a new phase that enhances the role of social relations and shifts the center of gravity of administrative law to collective bargaining and entrusts the modernization of the public administration. to an approach not lowered from above but truly shared “. A good method also appreciated by Pierpaolo Bombardieri, general secretary of UIL. “We appreciated the choice of President Draghi and Minister Brunetta in the method, in the choices that identify social cohesion as an objective to be achieved and maintained,” he said.
Method but also merit. “This agreement provides for strategic choices on investments, digitalization, administrative simplification and consequently things that were not there until yesterday are foreseen. Investments in new hires, in staff training, in the renewal of contracts. All things which serve to identify the request for funds that will be made on Next Generation Eu, one of the strategic assets of our country “added Bombardieri.
“With today’s signing we want to lay the foundations for the construction of a new Italy, starting from the intuitions of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to start a process that invests in the social partners, in innovation”.
Brunetta convenes unions on Friday 12 March on reform and renewals
The Pact has among its objectives the contractual renewals and the convocation of all the trade union confederations representing the public sector, announced by Brunetta, already for next Friday on reform and renewals, must have almost taken the trade unionists by surprise. “Very well” commented Landini, who “has already started a confrontation on Friday to give legs and body to the commitments indicated here. From this point of view, a very important and significant phase is opening up”.
The signing took place in the Green room of Palazzo Chigi, a symbolic place for concertation in a cordial atmosphere of strict respect for the institutions, according to what is learned. Swiss punctuality on both sides and speed both in formalizing the Agreement and in communicating the results of the agreement, on the basis of a new operation and effective collaboration that led, among other things, in about ten days, to the drafting of the Pact.
The Pact refers to an illustrious precedent, the “Protocol for the income and employment policy” of 23 July 1993. A historic agreement signed by the Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and by the Minister of Labor Gino Giugni with the trade unions and entrepreneurial associations and that put an end to years of conflicts by sanctioning the criterion of consultation of the social partners and by defining the model of bargaining at two levels, national and integrative. An agreement that Minister Brunetta wanted to recall. “With today’s signing we want to lay the foundations for the construction of a new Italy, – he said – starting from the intuitions of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to start a process that invests in the social partners, in innovation”. (by Cristina Armeni)
