The agenda of austerity continues to be rolled-out all over Europe. One of the latest fights facing our Movement in Europe is in Italy. The technocratic Government led by the unelected Mario Monti which replaced the disgraced Silvio Berlusconi on 12 November 2011 is unleashing an assault on workers rights.

Mr Monti’s government is proposing to weaken protection provided to millions of people under Article 18 of the employment code, which requires firms with more than 15 employees to reinstate workers considered by a court to have been dismissed unlawfully.

The reform also gives financial incentives to hire permanent workers rather than temporary staff. The reforms are part of Monti’s £25 billion austerity package passed in January to fight the sovereign crisis by putting Italy’s

CGIL, the main union confederation, and individual unions oppose changes to Article 18 of the workers statute. Due to political pressure the draft proposals have been changed so that judges would have the possibility of ordering reinstatement if those economic justifications were found to be “manifestly baseless”.

Large demonstrations have been taking place in Italy underling the unpopularity of Monti’s unelected government of technocrats as worries about Spain spill over into other euro zone economies.

In our latest podcast USi chats with Professor Riccardo Bellofiore, University of Bergamo, on the proposed changes and the attack on labour.

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