San Marino. Csdl: “Investment by the Pension Fund in San Marino securities impromptu and out of context decision”
“The CSdL was the only organization to vote not on the occasion of the decision of the Pension Council to invest € 20 million in internal public debt securities”.
The trade union organization itself highlights this, adding: “In the Wednesday 4 May episode of” CSdL Informa “it remarked Giuliano Tamagnini, who is the representative of the Confederation of Labor in the same body. Moreover, the decision was taken without respecting some formal rules; in the first place, the issue was not on the agenda. It is an investment with a yield of 0.80% per annum; 20 million securities correspond to 40% of the entire amount of the issue, equal to 50 million.
Ah commented Enzo Merlini, Secretary General CSdL. “In the introduction it should be noted that we have declared to the Secretary Ciavatta (hoping that the issue will become a topic of discussion with the Secretary for Finance), our absolute opposition to withdrawals from the pension funds set aside, such as to exhaust them over ten years or even less, according to how the pension reform hypothesis is conceived. For our part, we believe that a political and substantive agreement is necessary in order to ensure that pension funds, special in times of greatest need, or the deficit between expenditure and income will increase further, are available.
CSdL he explains how “It is therefore necessary to be clear and their use is already evident; on this, in words the counterpart also agrees, but then how do you, in the meantime, invest 20 million in public debt securities? In the future, if we find the right square on pension reform in its integration, including the perspective of pension funds, we do not rule out that similar investments can be made. But now such an impromptu decision is not acceptable: moreover, the government has declared that it does not know anything. For these reasons, the CSdL voted against.
Still on the subject of pension reform, there has been a significant change of method in the comparison on the proposal of the Secretariat of State for Health. As requested by the CSdL, the very unproductive modality of developing the discussion article by article has been overcome, to focus on the three main issues: what is meant by quota 103, the economic contribution of the State, the increase in contribution rates (the proposal provides for an increase only for workers, which is unacceptable for the CSdL).
A more articulated formulation of the quota 103 has arrived from the Health Secretariat: finally, as insistently requested by the CSdL, the possibility of retiring with 60 years of age, without disincentives, has been confirmed, however, increasing the necessary contributions to 43 years; this to protect long careers. Similarly, you can retire at the age of 63 with 40 contributions, without disincentives. The passage from 100 to 103, thus reformulated, will be subject to a gradualness distributed over 6 years. Obviously this is the main issue, but not the only one, regarding the revision of the retirement age and related requirements. On the other two central nodes, however, the comparison has not yet developed. In the absence of a complete picture, no sharing hypothesis on the reform will be possible.
CSdL secretary Enzo Merlini was asked to comment on the positive data on San Marino employment. The private sector, which reached over 17 thousand employees as of March 31, 2022, has almost a thousand more employees than last year, with a percentage increase of 6.2%. It should be borne in mind that in the meantime there has been the opening of the fashion center, which employed 200 workers in October 2021 (now we don’t know if the numbers have changed). In five years, the increase in employment was over 2 thousand units, equal to 14%.
Another interesting fact concerns unemployment. Between 2017 and 2020, more than 80% of the employment increase was made up of frontier workers; however, this is a positive figure, but we have always asked for priority attention to San Marino residents and residents. In the last two years, the latter have represented almost 50% of the newly employed, so much so that the unemployed have almost halved.
The overcoming of the absolute liberalization policies, which took place in 2020, is bearing fruit. The data are also positive for women: there are still 340 unemployed in the strict sense, but the number is reduced by half compared to a few years ago. In the last year, most have found work in the commercial sector, hotels and restaurants, and this further demonstrates that they are willing to adapt to what is on offer, compatibly with family needs.
The most significant data by far is that relating to the manufacturing sector. In the last 5 years it has increased the number of employees by over 1,300 units, equal to 65% of the total new employees. Over the same period, over 80% of the San Marino people who found work went into manufacturing.
Compared to last year, the increase in employment was significant in almost all sectors, with the exception of those related to tourism promotion and the financial sector. This favorable situation must represent a good omen for the renewals of the various expired contracts, after the signing of that of the industry, for which the complex process of approval and legitimation of the Guarantor Committee has begun, which will last a few months. All the conditions are in place for the other contract renewals to reach a positive conclusion.
Precisely on the contract side, there is a novelty concerning AASLP salaried workers. He started with the competent Secretariat for discussions on the regulatory part (Company needs, reorganization of operational teams, recruitment plan, etc.), with the commitment of the Secretariat itself to bring a proposal also on economic increases.
As regards the construction sector, after the rejection of the agreement by the employees, a new contract renewal proposal is being considered. We are committed to bringing the result of the comparison to the attention of the workers by the end of May. As for the other contracts, if the informal meetings continue to produce no results, it will be necessary to study the negotiations in accordance with the law ”.