President Sergio Mattarella said he
was happy that jobs were growing in Italy in a speech for
Wednesday's May Day or Labour Day in Calabria Tuesday.
"The employment data as a whole show significant growth. The
positive trend concerns a large part of Europe, Italy in the
lead, and this is a source of great satisfaction for all of us,"
he told an audience of trade unionists, workers and local
officials.
"It is good news that the number of jobs has increased, and also
the number of permanent contracts. So is the growth in female
employment.
"Of course, we must not forget the social and territorial
disparities that persist; the excluded; the phenomenon of
precarious and underpaid jobs.
"The low wage level of young people's first entry into the world
of work, which induces many of them to go abroad for better
conditions'.
Mattarella also said that: trade unions are "irrepressible
interlocutors"; that labour is "not a commodity"; and that
difficulties persist in the labour market for those with
disabilities.
'Throughout the history of the Republic, important thrusts for
progress, for the definition and dissemination of rights, for
the modernisation of enterprises themselves have come from the
confrontation between institutions and social partners," he said
"The intermediate bodies are a characteristic element of the
design of our Constitution and benefit Italy.
"The trade union movement - bearer of democratic values - is an
irrepressible interlocutor for the development of fruitful
collective, sector and company bargaining.
Mattarella went on: "Work is indissolubly linked to the person,
to his or her dignity, to his or her social dimension, to the
contribution that each person can and must make to participation
in the life of society.
"Work is not a commodity.
"It has a value in the market of goods and exchanges. Indeed, it
is an essential element of it, because without the contribution
of human creativity it would lack consistency and quality."
The president also stressed that "the 'difficulties of those who
bear a disability, the burden of care burdens that not
infrequently push even families of those who have a job into
need, persist.
"The positive indicators of the economic situation must
encourage us to continue intelligently in the direction of
economic growth based on equity and cohesion".
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