Meloni at the Uil congress: "Those who work are not alone"

The portrait of “a nation that is truly strong only when those who work know they are not alone”. A closeness, that of the State to workersremarked by Giorgia Meloni in his speech at the congress of Uilwhich takes shape in the commitment to safety at workbecause each of the over one thousand white deaths per year corresponds to the times “in which we were all defeated”.

The hug between Meloni and Luana D’Orazio’s mother

And it is precisely in the name of one of these many tragedies that the afternoon of the premier begins at the Padua Fair for the Uil Assizes. The Prime Minister enters, amid applause, together with the general secretary, Pierpaolo Bombardieri. Then the hug with Emma Marrazzo, the mother of Luana D’Oraziowho died tragically in 2021 in the textile factory where she worked, while the union leader remembered the story of the young worker from the stage.

In an ideal thread that holds together the guiding themes from the stage, the Prime Minister recalls Luana D’Orazio and he also uses his mother as an example of resilience in the last lines of his speech. “Here too I want to address a thought of heartfelt gratitude, also for her warm embrace, to Emma, ​​Luana D’Orazio’s mother, who we all consider an extraordinary mother, an extraordinary person”, because “the battle that she gave birth to in memory of her daughter is a battle that involves us and mobilizes us one by one”.

Security and fair wages

Hence the prime minister’s claim of what has been done and how much still needs to be done. “I am convinced that it is on priorities” like the safety at work “that measures the civilization of a nation and how much a people really cares about their present and their future, we have made an important effort by increasing resources and inspectors. And today the State is inside the workplace as we haven’t seen for some time”, explains Meloni, who also places emphasis on the measurement of “fair salary”, which is “a victory for the nation, for all workers”.

Tax relief on contract renewals

Then she relaunches, after having been ‘pressed’ by Bombardieri during her speech, on the tax relief on contract renewals. “I have already spoken with Calderone and with Giorgetti, the government accepts your request to guarantee that this measure can also be guaranteed for the next budget”, says Meloni, turning to Bombardieri, who had previously hoped for an openness on the part of the executive on this dossier.

Female employment and growth

Always in continuity with the commitment to safety at work and in the memory of those who, while working, lost their lives like Luana D’Orazio, Meloni focuses onfemale employment. “If only Italy could fill the gap in female employment with the European average, we would solve most of our problems of economic growth and social security sustainability,” claims Meloni. Who is convinced: “The future of Italy depends on working women, and this will continue to be our priority.”

Tax cuts and paychecks

The Prime Minister, therefore, continues along the lines of claiming the government’s results, in the presence of the Minister of Labor Marina Elvira Calderone in the audience. “We have increased the net paycheck for millions of workers, especially for medium-low incomes. Today an employee with a salary of around 26,000 euros per year can have between 1,500 and 2,400 euros more in his paycheck per year than in the past”, he explains.

Then he relaunches: “Taking into account only the cutting the tax wedge and the reform ofIrpefevery year the State gives up around 21 billion euros of money that it does not collect and which remains in the pockets of workers, increasing their purchasing power”.

Zero tolerance on gangmastering

But Meloni is also playing to relaunch the relationship with the union. “I believe I am the only prime minister to have participated, in his mandate, in the congresses of all three main trade union organisations”, he claims again, in front of the audience of the Uil, which is hosting a speech by a prime minister from the stage of the national congress after 20 years. The last one was Romano Prodi, in 2006. Meloni also underlines that “for this government the comparison with the social partners is a figure”, calls for “zero tolerance” on gangmaster and hopes for a new “technological humanism” to face the challenges ofartificial intelligence.

The government and the comparison with the social partners

The final image is that of a “door”, that of the government, which “will always remain open to discussion and proposal”, because – Meloni remarks – “we will not always think the same way about everything, but I know that there is one thing about which we think the same way, work is not simply the equivalent of a performance, work is the recognition of the dignity of a person, the dignity of those who get up in the morning, raise a family, build the future of this family with their own hands, with their own gestures nation.”