Deputy Minister Rixi convened an inter-ministerial table with the MEF, the State Accounting Office, and the Ministry of Labor, unions, and employer associations. The meeting will resume on January 15th.
Rome – A small step forward towards the establishment of the exit support fund for port workers, with a permanent table expanded to all relevant ministries, to unblock the situation. Immediately after today’s demonstration, called by Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, and Uiltrasporti, with the participation of employer associations, in front of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Deputy Minister, Edoardo Rixi, convened an inter-ministerial table with the involved parties, including the MEF, the State Accounting Office, and the Ministry of Labor, which will meet again on January 15th. The goal is to continue the discussion, understand why the regulation, in force since 2021, has never been implemented, and finally get started.
“Deputy Minister Rixi has ordered the start of a consultation process with the competent ministries – the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies – with the aim of identifying a definitive solution within certain timeframes, in compliance with current regulations and the agreements signed between the parties, through the establishment of a permanent table,” informs a note from the ministry, determined to close the chapter.
A permanent table to resolve all issues. The unions reiterated that giving legs to the fund is a priority, given that it is a regulation from 2021 and must concern all port workers, giving priority to those who work on the docks, the operational staff, who do strenuous work, because “At 65 years old, you cannot be in a ship’s hold,” as the flyer states.
The climate remains cautious on the part of both the unions and Ancip, Assiterminal, Assologistica, and Uniport, who acknowledge the ministry for having received them by convening all state administrations and for having set up a technical table to implement the needs reiterated by all parties today and to implement the fund, but they await developments.
“For us, the fund is non-negotiable – emphasizes Giuliano Galluccio, national secretary of Uiltrasporti for ports and maritime transport – We hope that the next meeting is reconvened with the same composition, with all the subjects present at today’s table.” The unions had already explained that female and male port workers cannot yet “wait in vain for a tool that ports desperately need.” A theme linked to technological innovation and generational turnover. The employer associations had emphasized that the establishment of the fund is in the interest of the productive and organizational system of companies, fundamental for accompanying change in a phase of transition and strong transformation, and today they reiterate: “We jointly represented the specificities and regulation of our sector as well as the need to proceed with implementing the tool to make port work more efficient, through a generational turnover that can no longer be postponed.”
