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Irish Times
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Italy to vote in two-day referendum on citizenship and labour reforms
Italians will start voting on Sunday in a two-day referendum on whether to ease citizenship laws and reverse a decade-old liberalisation of the labour market, but the vote may fail to generate sufficient turnout to be deemed valid. Opposition leftist and centrist parties, civil society groups and a leading trade union have latched on to the issues of labour rights and Italy 's demographic woes as a way of challenging prime minister Giorgia Meloni 's right-wing coalition government. They gathered more than 4.5 million signatures, according to the CGIL labour union – far more than needed to trigger the referendum, which will comprise five questions: four on the labour market and one on citizenship. However, opinion polls suggest they will struggle to persuade the required 50 per cent plus one of the electorate to turn out to make the outcome of the vote binding. Ms Meloni and senior government ministers have indicated they will not vote. READ MORE 'Meloni is afraid of participation and has understood that many Italians, even those who voted for her, will go to vote,' said Elly Schlein , leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (PD), who is spearheading the campaign along with Maurizio Landini, the CGIL labour union chief. A Demopolis institute poll last month estimated turnout would be in the range of 31-39 per cent among Italy's roughly 50 million electors – well short of the required threshold. 'Securing a quorum will be hard. The opposition's minimum aim is to show strength and bring to vote more people than the 12.3 million who backed the centre-right at the 2022 general election,' said Lorenzo Pregliasco, from YouTrend pollsters. The citizenship issue has garnered most public attention in a nation where concerns over the scale of immigration helped propel Ms Meloni's anti-migration coalition to power in late 2022. The question on the ballot paper asks Italians if they back reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years from 10. This could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals, organisers say. [ 'Trump likes this German': Merz Oval Office test gets approval back home Opens in new window ] With Italy's birth rate in sharp decline, economists say the country needs to attract more foreigners to boost its anaemic economy, and migrant workers feel a lot is at stake. 'If you just look at the time frame, five years are a huge gain for us migrants, if compared to 10,' said Mohammed Kamara, a 27-year-old from Sierra Leone who works in a building construction company in Rome. Francesco Galietti, from political risk firm Policy Sonar, said keeping such rules tight was 'an identity issue' for Ms Meloni, but she was also being pushed by business to open up the borders of an ageing country to foreign workers. 'On the one hand there is the cultural identity rhetoric, but on the other there are potential problems paying pensions and an economy that relies on manufacturing, which needs workers,' he said. The questions regarding the labour market aim to make it harder to fire some workers and increase compensation for workers laid off by small businesses, among other things, reversing a law passed by a PD government a decade ago. The leaders of two of the governing coalition parties, Antonio Tajani of Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini of the League, have said they will not vote on Sunday, while Ms Meloni, who heads Brothers of Italy, will show up at the polling station but will not vote. 'She will thereby honour her institutional duty but avoid contributing to the quorum,' said pollster Pregliasco. – Reuters
Reuters
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Low turnout set to thwart moves to ease Italian citizenship rules
ROME, June 9 (Reuters) - Voting resumed on Monday for Italy's two-day referendum on proposals to make it easier to obtain Italian citizenship and strengthen labour rights, but low turnout looked set to make the vote invalid. Data overnight showed under 23% of eligible voters had cast their ballots as polls provisionally closed on Sunday, far short of the 50% plus one of the electorate needed to make the outcome of the vote binding. Voting ends at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT). One of the five referendums is about reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years from 10 years. This could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals, organisers say. With Italy's birthrate in sharp decline, economists say the country needs to attract more foreigners to boost its anaemic economy, and migrant workers feel a lot is at stake for them as they seek closer integration into Italian society. Three other referendum questions would reverse a decade-old liberalisation of the labour market, and a fourth concerns liability rules for accidents at work. Opposition leftist and centrist parties, civil society groups and a leading trade union have latched on to the issues of labour rights and Italy's demographic woes as a way of challenging Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition government that took power almost three years ago. Meloni and her allies encouraged their supporters to boycott the vote. The prime minister attended a polling station in Rome on Sunday but her staff confirmed that she did not collect ballot papers and did not cast a vote, a tactic she had indicated that she would adopt. A low turnout and a failed referendum could lead to further infighting among centre-left opposition groups which have struggled to find a way to dent Meloni's popularity since she came to power.
Irish Times
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Italians to vote on easing citizenship requirements, reversing labour reform
Italians will start voting on Sunday in a two-day referendum on whether to ease citizenship laws and reverse a decade-old liberalisation of the labour market, but the vote may fail to generate sufficient turnout to be deemed valid. Opposition leftist and centrist parties, civil society groups and a leading trade union have latched on to the issues of labour rights and Italy 's demographic woes as a way of challenging prime minister Giorgia Meloni 's right-wing coalition government. They gathered more than 4.5 million signatures, according to the CGIL labour union – far more than needed to trigger the referendum, which will comprise five questions: four on the labour market and one on citizenship. However, opinion polls suggest they will struggle to persuade the required 50 per cent plus one of the electorate to turn out to make the outcome of the vote binding. Ms Meloni and senior government ministers have indicated they will not vote. READ MORE 'Meloni is afraid of participation and has understood that many Italians, even those who voted for her, will go to vote,' said Elly Schlein , leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (PD), who is spearheading the campaign along with Maurizio Landini, the CGIL labour union chief. A Demopolis institute poll last month estimated turnout would be in the range of 31-39 per cent among Italy's roughly 50 million electors – well short of the required threshold. 'Securing a quorum will be hard. The opposition's minimum aim is to show strength and bring to vote more people than the 12.3 million who backed the centre-right at the 2022 general election,' said Lorenzo Pregliasco, from YouTrend pollsters. The citizenship issue has garnered most public attention in a nation where concerns over the scale of immigration helped propel Ms Meloni's anti-migration coalition to power in late 2022. The question on the ballot paper asks Italians if they back reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years from 10. This could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals, organisers say. [ 'Trump likes this German': Merz Oval Office test gets approval back home Opens in new window ] With Italy's birth rate in sharp decline, economists say the country needs to attract more foreigners to boost its anaemic economy, and migrant workers feel a lot is at stake. 'If you just look at the time frame, five years are a huge gain for us migrants, if compared to 10,' said Mohammed Kamara, a 27-year-old from Sierra Leone who works in a building construction company in Rome. Francesco Galietti, from political risk firm Policy Sonar, said keeping such rules tight was 'an identity issue' for Ms Meloni, but she was also being pushed by business to open up the borders of an ageing country to foreign workers. 'On the one hand there is the cultural identity rhetoric, but on the other there are potential problems paying pensions and an economy that relies on manufacturing, which needs workers,' he said. The questions regarding the labour market aim to make it harder to fire some workers and increase compensation for workers laid off by small businesses, among other things, reversing a law passed by a PD government a decade ago. The leaders of two of the governing coalition parties, Antonio Tajani of Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini of the League, have said they will not vote on Sunday, while Ms Meloni, who heads Brothers of Italy, will show up at the polling station but will not vote. 'She will thereby honour her institutional duty but avoid contributing to the quorum,' said pollster Pregliasco. – Reuters
The Guardian
04-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Unions from 36 countries protest over treatment of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
Trade unions from 36 countries have filed a complaint with the International Labour Organisation over the treatment of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. The complaint calls for a 'commission of inquiry' into labour rights in the country, one of the most powerful tools available to the ILO, a United Nations agency. The demand comes amid growing concern that not enough is being done to improve the conditions of workers as development begins to scale up before the Fifa World Cup, due to take place in the Gulf state in 2034. Luc Triangle, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said the 'scale and severity' of the issues in Saudi Arabia demanded the strongest response. 'This is a call for immediate action towards genuine, inclusive and collaborative reform,' he said. 'We cannot tolerate another death of a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia. We cannot remain silent while migrant workers, especially construction and domestic workers continue to face fundamental rights violations. This has to stop now.' The news comes on the day the ILO announced a new cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, signed on the sidelines of its key annual gathering, the International Labour Conference, held in Geneva this week. Under the initial two-year agreement Saudi Arabia is expected to begin to align its laws with international labour standards. Human rights groups and trade unions have repeatedly warned that the World Cup, and other major projects, could be tarnished by abusive conditions endured by migrant workers in constructing the necessary infrastructure. These concerns include extortionate recruitment fees, non-payment of wages, false contracts, passport confiscation and exposure to extreme heat. Thousands of workers could be likely to die as construction ramps up, the rights group FairSquare claimed last month. The number of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia has surged in recent years to more than 13 million, driven in part by a massive construction boom linked to the World Cup and so-called giga-projects. The Guardian understands that Saudi Arabia's agreement with the ILO includes proposals for new measures to support fair recruitment and make it easier for workers to change jobs, the introduction of a minimum wage and the inclusion of migrant workers on workers' representative committees. Trade unions remain prohibited in the country. The agreement also sets out commitments to improve the compensation system for workers who are injured or killed. In the longer term, it promises to strengthen protections for domestic workers, who have been excluded from key provisions of the labour law. The planned reforms have failed to satisfy trade union delegates. Trade unions from the UK, Japan, Canada, Australia and 13 African countries including Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal pushed through the complaint, despite fierce opposition from the Saudis. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion The complaint, which the Guardian has seen, lists dozens of cases of alleged human trafficking, forced labour, wage theft and physical and sexual abuse of migrant workers. 'Africans go to Saudi Arabia looking for life but come back in coffins,' said Omar Osman, the general secretary of the federation of Somali trade unions and one of the signatories. The complaint follows submissions made this year by the Building and Woodworkers International to the ILO over migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, and African trade unions raised with Fifa concerns over the treatment of workers. Fifa says the human rights policy submitted as part of Saudi Arabia's bid for the World Cup commits the country to embedding ILO standards as part of the 2034 process. In a letter to Human Rights Watch in April, the secretary general of Fifa, Mattias Grafström, wrote that 'the work to implement the measures outlined in the bid strategy has started and is a priority for Fifa'. The trade union complaint is understood to acknowledge that this dialogue has begun. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in Saudi Arabia was approached for comment.
Malay Mail
29-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
ILO chief says US ‘yet' to pay its dues as Trump's ‘America First' policy risks budget cuts
GENEVA, May 29 — The United States is behind in its dues to the International Labour Organization (ILO), but the UN agency's chief said Wednesday he was 'hopeful' they would soon be paid. Washington, under President Donald Trump, has stepped away from several UN agencies and programmes as it pursues an 'America First' policy that spurns multilateral bodies and pacts. 'Have they paid for the current year? Not yet. I always want to add 'yet' – not yet,' ILO chief Gilbert Houngbo told journalists. The ILO – devoted to promoting labour rights and decent employment – was not currently looking to revise its budget. 'It's not something that I'm contemplating,' Houngbo said. Under a February executive order, Trump directed his government to look at withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, the UNRWA relief agency for Palestinians, and UNESCO, the UN's education, science and culture agency. He has also pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord and his country has started the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization. The move has hit UN agency budgets hard, as the United States is often their biggest donor. Houngbo, a former premier of Togo, said that the ILO stood apart from the other UN agencies in terms of US priorities. 'Maybe I'm biased by saying this (but) the ILO is not necessarily viewed as negative,' he said. He noted that, while the United States had closed some 50 projects at the ILO – forcing the termination of around 200 jobs – it was part of the agency's board which in March approved the next ILO budget. That budget needs to be validated by all 187 member countries in a June 2-13 congress in Geneva. Should the United States – which accounts for 22 percent of the ILO's budget – end up not paying its dues, 'you may have to act accordingly on the worst-case scenario, you may have to consider a revised budget,' Houngbo said. He added that the ILO was about to start a cost-reduction programme that would include voluntary job reductions, moving some operations to cheaper cities elsewhere and using AI for translation work. That tilt was being made under a broader initiative in the UN started in March to improve productivity under tighter budgets. — AFP
