De Luca & Partners Managing partner and labour lawyer Vittorio De Luca explained to Verita&Affari: “This is a perfect storm between inflation, war, and increases in energy and raw material prices.”  The worst thing is that the government has little room for manoeuvre to contain the wave of layoffs that are likely to arrive in autumn.

“At the moment, there is nothing tangible for anyone to work with.” De Luca imagines two possible options. “The first is the exemption from the payment of surcharges on the Redundancy Fund (9%, 12%, 15% depending on the use of the subsidy, ed.).”“The second is to allow access to redundancy fund for periods exceeding the 24-month limit in the mobile five-year period.”

This applies mostly to energy-intensive companies under the Energy Decree for the five sectors most in difficulty (steel, wood, ceramics, automotive, and the agro-industry). This is not only for them since energy increases have created difficulties across the board. The problem is how to make ends meet with the scarce resources. The new Extraordinary redundancy fund alternative is hard and painful.  “Without this temporary social safety net, companies would be forced to contain costs with layoffs. However, this solution is not painless because it has a cost for the State which is Naspi and a significant social cost.” The next government will have to choose the solution to support businesses and workers in an ever-darkening economic scenario. Not only for Italy.

Source: Verità&Affari