ROME: Italy has abolished voucher payments for workers, which were highly popular with employers, to avoid a bruising referendum championed by the country’s main union, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Friday.
Payment by vouchers was introduced in 2008 as an experiment for seasonal farm laborers. The flexible and unregulated form of payment was aimed at encouraging bosses to stop hiring workers on an illegal, ad hoc basis.
Its use has spread rapidly across many sectors, with 1.7 million people — about 8 percent of all working Italians — receiving some or all payment in vouchers in 2015, angering the CGIL union, which has promoted a referendum on the issue that was due to be held on May 28.
The ruling center-left Democratic Party lost a referendum in December on constitutional reform, forcing the resignation of then-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and the government is anxious to avoid another bruising ballot-box battle.
“We have done this in the knowledge that Italy does not need an election campaign on themes such as this in the months ahead,” Gentiloni told reporters, announcing his Cabinet’s decision to scrap the vouchers immediately.
The CGIL hailed the move as a “great success” but employers and center-right political parties denounced the elimination of the vouchers, saying it would push parts of the economy back into the shadows and complicate legal job creation.
Under the voucher system, workers are not paid directly in money but with certificates, which the employer buys online, or at a post office or tobacconist, for €10 ($11), 20 euros or 50 euros each.
Workers then cash their vouchers in and receive €7.5 for each €10 of face value, with €2.5 going to the state to cover insurance and pension contributions.
Without an employment contract, workers have no rights in areas such as sick pay, holidays or leave, while there are obvious advantages and savings for employers. Unions said bosses were also abusing the system, paying only some wages in vouchers and the rest in cash.
The government said it would work with unions on drawing up a replacement system.
The Eurointelligence think-tank said the end of the easy-to-use vouchers showed the impossibility of reforming hidebound Italy, which has regularly underperformed other euro zone economies since the launch of the single currency in 1999.
Italy scraps employment voucher system
Italy scraps employment voucher system
Stc Group issues US dollar-denominated sukuk with a total value of $2bn
RIYADH: Stc Group has issued US dollar-denominated sukuk with a total value of $2 billion across two tranches.
The group clarified that the issuance included the offering of $750 million in sukuk with a 5-year maturity at a yield of US Treasury plus 75 basis points, and an issuance of $1.250 billion with a 10-year maturity at a yield of UST plus 90 basis points, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
It noted that the total order book exceeded $8 billion across both tranches, with a coverage rate exceeding 4 times, and participation from over 300 investors in the subscription.
The issuance garnered strong demand from a broad and diverse base of international investors, reflecting solid confidence in the robustness and efficiency of stc Group’s business model and strategy.
This strategy is aimed at strengthening its digital leadership, seizing infrastructure opportunities, enabling massive projects, and contributing to the realization of Vision 2030 objectives, with a focus on achieving sustainable growth based on operational efficiency and maximizing shareholder value.
This issuance enhances stc Group’s access to international capital markets and solidifies investor confidence in the strength of its credit position.
It also supports its strategic role in accelerating the pace of digital transformation in the Kingdom and building a thriving digital economy.
