ROME (ITALPRESS) – Of the tax concordat “I thought bad of it even before. But now it can be said without qualms: this government legalizes tax evasion. Instead of doing serious reform and taking the money where it is, that is, rents and profits, to invest in schools and public health, it makes amnesties and electoral marquees. He divides the country with differentiated autonomy. And it puts the independence of the judiciary under attack.” Thus, in an interview with la Repubblica, CGIL Secretary General Maurizio Landini confirms the reasons for the eight-hour general strike proclaimed, together with Uil, for Friday, Nov. 29. “The only tax that increases is Irpef: 17 billion more this year and 90 percent from employees and pensioners. If for the same income a self-employed person pays a 15 percent flat tax and an employee 43 percent, and profits are taxed at 24 percent, there is no rebalancing that holds,” stressed Landini, who chastised Matteo Salvini: “The vice prime minister said he wanted to cancel the Fornero law. Instead he raises the retirement age to 70. Who is ridiculous? He has made a mockery of the country. On Nov. 29, in the square to strike, there will be many who believed his lies. “Then, he explains, “If by politics you mean defending people’s rights and needs, yes I like union politics. At stake is the freedom to exist for all people who want to work with dignity and justice, in safety for a living. And without war. That is also why we mobilize. Unlike others, we have never changed our minds.” “The general strike against the Draghi government,” the trade unionist recalls, “led to a shift from the one-off to the wedge cut. If today we have the cut, we owe it to that strike by CGIL and UIL. It makes one smile then that for the third year the Meloni government is selling us the same measure again. In January, wages are not going up. And if they do go up, it is only because of union action that renews contracts. “Regarding the criticism of Premier Giorgia Meloni, who judges the strike as “ideological,” Landini notes, “Having a public health care that works is never an ideological demand. It never happened then that a premier would summon us after the parliamentary hearings on the maneuver that will take place tomorrow. The premier does not want mediations or negotiations. She has only leadership in her head. On the contrary, I see the risk of corporatization of union action and separate agreements with the most willing unions. It’s time for a law on representation that also recognizes the right of workers to vote on national contracts that affect them.” And when asked if there is room to call off the strike on the 29th, he replied, “We will ask the premier to restore the 4.6 billion cut to the automotive sector that is inside a momentous crisis. To reduce spending on weapons. To increase spending on health care and public schools. To initiate serious tax reform,taxing annuities and profits. To make pension reform fair and for young people. To raise resources for the labor contract of public employees: an extra 6 percent is not enough against 17 points lost to inflation.We will also ask to change the labor connection that liberalizes precarity. To seriously invest in security and cancel the logic of cascading subcontracting. To restore the municipalities’ rent fund. To repeal the autonomy law. Without answers, it will be strike.” Then, Landini adds, “If you gave me a pair of shoes three years ago and now you say you’re leaving them to me, you’re not giving me a new pair. And in the meantime they have also worn out, because of inflation. Who are they kidding? From our counts then, the same cut as before is not guaranteed up to 35,000 euros: we will be vigilant. Rather, since an extra 17 billion will come in from Irpef this year, we ask that it go back to those who paid it in: mainly employees and pensioners. Otherwise, the cut in the wedge will have been paid for by us with the tax drain, the higher taxes on a higher gross.”- Photogram Agency -(ITALPRESS).
