Operators, unionists, and professionals in the sector discuss in Genoa the draft bill on Porti spa and reject the measure
Genoa – Hit and almost sunk by doubts, perplexities, and an endless list of critical points that just don’t work. The draft of the port reform bill, which has never been officially presented yet but has been circulating for weeks (it should land in the council of ministers before Christmas), still with many points to clarify, emerges with a rejection from the meeting organized in Genoa, at the Fratellanza e progresso club among coalmen, by the Officine Sampierdarenesi Gianfranco Angusti. At best, the idea of a central coordination of the ports is saved, but the rest is not liked.
The consul of the Culmv, Antonio Benvenuti, clearly states that an intervention by the Ligurian and Genoese institutions would be needed to bring the Genoa model, which works, of port labor organization to national attention. A model with centralization in Rome, on the other hand, risks losing strength since there are not many parliamentarians from the territory in the capital. “I expect the institutions to move, a president from the Liguria Region and a mayor of Genoa on the port issue cannot wait for the Rome draft – he says – It is not a problem of affiliation.” The labor chapter inside the draft is not there, it is a delicate chapter, had said the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Edoardo Rixi, which must be treated separately. “But if there is nothing in the draft it means that we must deal with this topic – underlines Benvenuti – An employee of a Port Authority must ask themselves what they will do in an Authority that is changing and that is probably being downsized. What do we do regarding temporary labor which is not at all defined and remains within the scope of the old law, which they are changing. In 2027 there will be the tender for the supply of temporary labor in the port of Genoa for 8 years plus 2. Will we do it before the reform? And will the reform confirm the same time frame, or will it take it away from us or downsize it?”.
Luigi Robba, former director of Assiterminal and Davide Maresca, lawyer and professor at the University of Genoa of Competition Law, analyze and dismantle the draft. Robba highlights “at least 30 critical points”, underlines that the core will be the establishment of the Porti d’Italia spa which will interpose itself between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Adsp and speaks of a “first snatch” for the financial resources that it will drain from the individual ports, in addition to the detachment of personnel taken from the individual Adsp. And he explains that legal-constitutional issues will also arise.
Maresca warns that there is still room to intervene on the text and start a negotiation, but to be careful. “We must take into account that this legislative technique used to create a central investment company is not a new thing in this legislature – he says – it is something that the government is doing quite systematically, also on other fronts, and that could also have purposes that have nothing to do with the port world, such as fixing the accounts of the Mef, corporatizing the debt, reducing fiscal compact problems, and it is something to take into account because on these aspects presumably the negotiation, the discussion, the level of confrontation is not exclusively on what interests the port or not”.
The Porti d’Italia spa, might even be okay, but the perplexity is about the purpose. “Did we need an investor?
What is the general economic interest service that is the subject of the reform? – Maresca continues – The construction of port works and extraordinary maintenance? But in Italy, most port works are already planned and funded.”
The questions and perplexities are many. For Gian Enzo Duci, a professor at the University of Genoa and a shipping expert, who defines the draft as the “Arabian Phoenix,” there are still many aspects to clarify and “from being a draft law that theoretically is in the ministry that should be the most federalist of all, it is objectively a reform that is more centralist than what the Bulgarian communist party would have planned.” The choice to establish a Porti d’Italia spa, whatever its form, “all in all could also be acceptable,” comments Duci. “However, we need to understand how it will be financed, because if it were to be financed exclusively or semi-exclusively by the fees coming from the various System Port Authorities, it could create problems in the management of individual ports. And there is an issue of personnel, of how much should be ‘fished’ from the individual Adsp.”
Also for the secretaries of Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti, who all ask to be called to a table to discuss the reform, there are still many things that the draft does not clarify. “The thing to delve into and understand will be the relationship between the center and the periphery, so what relationship there will be between this company and the individual System Port Authorities – says Marco Pietrasanta of Filt-Cgil –, to understand well the role that will remain with the individual system port authorities. Also for the employees.”
As for dock work, if it is not on the agenda today, the discussion must be addressed. “And it must be addressed with a perhaps more ‘Genoese’ perspective, with the need to strengthen what is the Genoese model: therefore the work of terminal employees and then that of the Port Company,” adds Pietrasanta. “Ligurian port activity accounts for almost a third of Italian containers, so it is not possible for this law to be imposed on us from above without a minimum of social discussion,” completes Stefano Degli Innocenti of UilTrasporti. And Mauro Scognamillo of Fit-Cisl also underlines the centrality of the port of Genoa in the national framework, adding “I believe it is fundamental for everyone, both the employer side and the union side, to sit at a table and discuss with the government the amendments to a draft that is currently too full of gaps.” If this does not happen, “if the law goes against the interests of Italian ports – he concludes – a good mobilization could also make someone change their mind who thinks that ports are a cash cow.”
