Rome, 12 July (LaPresse) – “There is a daily war report, yet no ‘rearmament’ strategy to counter it. It is the struggle to make ends meet faced by those cycling to deliver food, by security guards who risk their lives for a few euros an hour, and by many other invisible workers. Figures from the PoliS research centre published today in *La Repubblica* show that almost 20 per cent of the workers who keep the country’s economic and financial capital, Milan, running are poor and underpaid.” This was posted on social media by the leader of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte. “In the summer of three years ago,” recalls the former prime minister, “I went in person to Palazzo Chigi, alongside the other opposition parties, to present Meloni with our draft bill for a statutory minimum wage that would raise the pay of nearly 4 million workers. Over the past few years, we have tabled dozens of amendments to boost the purchasing power of workers and those on short-time working schemes – which has been decimated by inflation – and to put an end to the exploitation of young people through unpaid work placements and internships. The government and the ruling majority have consistently said nothing but ‘no’.” “On the other hand,” Conte emphasises, “this week Meloni went to the NATO summit in Ankara to confirm her commitment to the absurd target of spending 5 per cent of GDP on military expenditure and arms. Trump was thoroughly impressed: ‘Italy good, Spain bad’. What, on the other hand, will our young people receive? A debt hanging over their heads whilst they can no longer even afford to pay their rent?” “They can attack us and sling mud at us as much as they like, but it’s up to us to change all this,” concluded the Movement’s president.
Government, Conte: ‘Stuck on wages but pressing ahead with a mad rush to rearm’
Rome, 12 July (LaPresse) – “There is a daily war report, yet no ‘rearmament’ strategy to counter it. It is the struggle to make ends meet faced by those cycling to deliver food, by security guards who risk their lives for a few euros an hour, and by many other invisible workers. Figures from the PoliS research centre published today in *La Repubblica* show that almost 20 per cent of the workers who keep the country’s economic and financial capital, Milan, running are poor and underpaid.” This was posted on social media by the leader of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte. “In the summer of three years ago,” recalls the former prime minister, “I went in person to Palazzo Chigi, alongside the other opposition parties, to present Meloni with our draft bill for a statutory minimum wage that would raise the pay of nearly 4 million workers. Over the past few years, we have tabled dozens of amendments to boost the purchasing power of workers and those on short-time working schemes – which has been decimated by inflation – and to put an end to the exploitation of young people through unpaid work placements and internships. The government and the ruling majority have consistently said nothing but ‘no’.” “On the other hand,” Conte emphasises, “this week Meloni went to the NATO summit in Ankara to confirm her commitment to the absurd target of spending 5 per cent of GDP on military expenditure and arms. Trump was thoroughly impressed: ‘Italy good, Spain bad’. What, on the other hand, will our young people receive? A debt hanging over their heads whilst they can no longer even afford to pay their rent?” “They can attack us and sling mud at us as much as they like, but it’s up to us to change all this,” concluded the Movement’s president.
