Italy: Workers vote on welfare and employment pact

In October 2007, Italy's three main trade union confederations - Cgil, Cisl and Uil - are holding a nationwide ballot of workers and pensioners, seeking approval for an agreement on welfare and labour market reform they reached with the government in July.

The "protocol on welfare, labour and competitiveness" signed on 23 July by the centre-left government and the union confederations sets out a range of provisions, notably:

• an increase in minimum state pensions and improvements in pensions for workers who have had "arduous" jobs;
• a reform of the system of "social shock absorbers" - the various schemes that cushion the effects of restructuring and redundancies;
• repeal of the legislation that permits "on-call working" arrangements;
• new limits on the use of temporary contracts;
• a reduction in the taxation of performance-related payments and overtime earnings; and
• measures to improve the situation of women employed on part-time contracts.