Less work hours for the same salary, the idea (re) emerges in a post-Covid recovery key. The demands of the unions and the government’s plans

Cut theWorking hours the equality of salary. The idea cannot be said to be new, considering that in 1928 John Maynard Keynes prophesied that a century from now the workweek would stop at 15 mineral. But now that suggestion, one of the workhorses of Pasquale Tridico Since he was Minister of Labor in the lead of a possible one-color M5 government, he has returned to the fore as a possible key to after Covid recovery. Thanks to the departure of the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna marin – that relaunched the proposal to reduce daily hours eight to six hours – and above all the proposal of the powerful German metalworking union Ig Metall to get to a workweek of four days. An extension of the agreement for 28 hours per week (on a voluntary basis) reached two years ago for the Land of Baden Württemberg.

The Social Democratic Labor Minister, Hubertus heil, has already given the green light. But the debate is also open in Britain, where a group of deputies wrote to the Minister of Finance (the equivalent of our Minister of Finance) Rishi Sunak ask him to consider a four-day work week “so that employment is more evenly distributed.” Suggestion identical to the one that came from the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Jacinda ardern, which asked companies to consider giving a boost to tourism inside while improving work-life balance at the same time.

In Italy, the project (for many a utopia) has long been among the main drivers Domenico De Masi, Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Work at the Sapienza in Rome, according to which “work less“It is the main road for”all the work“. Last year, De Masi presented Nicola Fratoianni (Leu) an ad hoc bill, explaining that with fewer hours of work the productivity he would even have earned it. As demonstrated – it is his thesis – by the case of Germany, in which according to OECD data the average worker works alone 1,386 ore the year against 1,718 from Italy. But also in France (1,505 hours per year) e Britain (1,538 hours) the commitment required of employees is more onerous than in the Peninsula. Obviously, the difference in productivity is influenced by a set of factors ranging from infrastructure team – road links, but also technological infrastructures – to the quality of public administration. The fact is that the suggestion of being able to increase employment by dividing a certain hourly amount among several “bosses” has an undeniable appealall the more so now that the pandemic threatens to leave behind more than 1 million unemployed plus.

The workers’ representatives ask to address the issue: “For months the UIL has been asking for a reduction in working hours with the same salary. In Germany and Finland it is being discussed in a concrete way and the European Union is seriously studying the hypothesis ”, she recalled on Friday. Pierpaolo Bombardieri, secretary general of Uil. “The problem must be dealt with and resolved contractually by the social partners. State support, taking advantage of European resources and activation mechanisms of tax exemption or say decontribution, could pave the way for this solution ”. In fact, the government has already moved in that direction with measures to deal with the emergency: the Finance new skills, created in Anpal from Relaunch Decree and refinanced up to 730 million euros with the decree August, as long as I commercial contracts and territorial can foresee a rescheduling of working hours without salary cuts but also without overloading the budgets of the company. In fact, it is about “substituting” a percentage of hours for training courses, for which the state pays the employee. The objective declared by the minister Nunzia catalfo is twofold: “Increase opportunities for career progression or New job, thus avoiding the spectrum of unemployment“.

With the Budget law The instrument could become structural and be more directly linked to the creation of new jobs, which has already been promoted with the decontribution to all employers in the South. Among the options being considered is guaranteeing an unchanged salary using loans of the anti-unemployment program Of course. But on paper they should be used to finance layoffs and other shock absorbers needed to guarantee a parachute to those forced to stop due to Covid and crash. In the coming weeks, when the work on the next maneuver and the Italian recovery plan come to life, it will be understood whether the government intends to accelerate on this front. Beyond the Alps, it must be said, the debate has turned in a completely different direction: for the president of the French Confindustria Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux we need to reflect on 35 hours because the crisis can only be overcome by working more. IT IS Emmanuel macron in the last few months he had agreed.