Financial aid was announced by the government for employees forced to take unpaid leave amid the coronavirus pandemic, while 2.3 million more families adversely affected by the outbreak will be provided with cash aid. The government will also provide cash aid for a total of 4.4 million families with low income.
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[close]To mitigate the rising number of unemployed persons due to the COVID-19 crisis, the social partners have developed a new model of subsidised short-time work that could become an international role model. The Austrian model allows a temporary reduction in working hours of up to 90% while maintaining the employment relationship and granting almost full public wage compensation. This measure can help to bridge the economic fallout as it helps to stabilise demand and fosters a fast return to pre-crisis economic activity.
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[close]The government has taken significant steps to cushion the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic to protect both employers and employees. Among the measures, the protection of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a top priority as they constitute a large part of the country’s employment.
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[close]Many Italian companies and academics are pressing the government to reopen factories to prevent an economic catastrophe. Italy faces a particularly pressing dilemma, not only because its lockdown has been in place longer than most nations and it had the world’s highest death toll, but because the novel coronavirus has hit hardest in the northern industrial heartlands that generate a third of its economic output.
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[close]The NIPIP nurses’ and midwives’ union, along with four other organisations representing health professionals, has written to the government calling for guarantees that it will cover life insurance costs of health workers who fall ill or die as a result of contracting COVID-19. The organisations say that the commitment should be the same as that already made to some hospital and health sector employees.
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Increase of health professionals’ wages postponed
April 24,2020
The Independent Doctors Union (SIM) has criticised the government for not paying health professionals the 0.3% increase for civil servants for the month of April, especially considering that this figure is already very low with respect to the work they are carrying out.
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[close]The government launched the largest ever aid package to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic and to avoid a massive wave of joblessness. Companies employing 1.45 million workers — or nearly 29% of the entire workforce — have applied so far for short-time work compensation. Under the ‘Kurzarbeit’ scheme, employees get 80% of their wages from the government.
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[close]Public service union ver.di and the German employers’ organisation have agreed on a €1,500 payment for all care workers in recognition of the work they have been doing during the corona crisis. This payment will be made in July 2020. Part-time workers are to receive a proportional amount, while trainees will get €900.
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[close]A new collective agreement for the state sector came into effect at the beginning of April. The agreement will be in place until February 2022. The pay rise included in this 23-month agreement will be 3.07%, which follows the general line in this round of negotiations.
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[close]The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs launched a targeted antivirus employment sustainability programme. The aim is to mitigate the negative impact of anti-crisis, quarantine and other emergency measures taken in connection with the spread of COVID-19. One way that this objective is to be achieved is by reducing the salary costs of employers, in the form of a contribution from the state to the total labour costs. In other words, employees’ salaries will be partially reimbursed if they have experienced obstacles to working due to the coronavirus.
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[close]The trade union LANV noticed a number of cases in which people ‘fall through the net’ of the recent measures taken by the government. One example are the people who did not find any childcare facilities since the closure of schools and day care centres, and hence are unable to do their work.
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