ROME. Marta Pisa, 26, has been working at a sports center in Rome for 8.5 euros an hour for two years now, with no pension contributions and no vacation or sick days. OUR Meloni government seeks to expand such forms of flexible work, repealing previous prohibitions and drawing the wrath of trade unions.

The government claims the new jobs data will mean more jobs and push employers to legalize their previously uninsured and undeclared workers. IN Italy, 17% of workers do not have employment contracts. Like the rest of her colleagues, Pisa is not on the payroll at the sports center, and her contract does not provide for normal hours.

In recent years, some eurozone countries have tried to limit flexible working. The commission even set a condition Spain limit these forms of work in order to get billions of euros to support the economy during the pandemic.

Spain, by contrast, offers employers incentives to sign contracts with employees.

However, Meloni is moving in the opposite direction. Its first budget strengthened the flexible work voucher measure, which was abandoned in 2017 after union backlash. Under this system, the worker is paid by the state through vouchers purchased by his employer. Work is not under a contract, there are no sick days and days off, there is no right to join the unemployment fund after the dismissal of the employee. Vouchers are popular with employers, but critics say they leave ample opportunity for labor exploitation.

Spain, although having the second highest percentage (after the UK) of workers with flexible working hours (20.3% of the workforce), has laid down legislative frameworks to combat this phenomenon, favoring the constant recruitment of new workers and requiring contracts to be signed even for seasonal workers in tourism and agriculture. Madrid claims these measures have reduced the rate of flexible work from 26.1% in 2021 to 20.3% in 2022.