Welfare Ministry talks about migrant workers having lost their job while awaiting for regularization.
We’ve already longly explained that many prefectures chose to accept that people losing their job are entitled to find a new regular employment.
Among these prefectures also Milan one chose to follow this path, February 19 an internal act was published in order to guarantee that regularization can come to an end in cases that employers are dismissed. This document was signed by managers organizations, trade unions, Local Labour Department and Police headquarters. This paper entitles the ones having lost their job to find a new employment with which to have regularization proceedings completed.
But they changed their mind.
March 26 Minister Maroni chose to suspend this document signed at Milan Prefecture. The reason is “the need to evaluate the lawfulness of such procedure according to Bossi-Fini law”.
In other words the minister decided to turn back on an already signed document.
A note refers about this choice to Milan Prefecture and this same note invites this office not to proceed on before the lawfulness of the instructions are evaluated.
Welfare Minister suspects that this procedure doesn’t go together with Bossi-Fini law and therefore the proceedings are revoked.
The letter sent to Milan Prefecture at the name of Mr Ferrante was also sent to all local Labour Departments “to make it clear – Ministry explains – that no instructions which are not clearly expressed by Bossi-Fini law should be enforced”.
In other words this letter tells all prefects to suspend similar to Milan proceedings.
Trade unions addressed this behaviour as not responsible because it obstacles the emergence from conceiled work, people having lost their job are obliged to go back to clandestinity.
What was stated in pardon is subverted and thousands of people are sent back to illegality.
What is strange is the fact that the Milan document was signed Febraury 19, it took a month before the Ministry understands that there might be problems on the lawfulness of such proceedings. The Ministry thinks about it and orders the suspension of the act.
Prefectures did make suche choices because of the lack of government instructions.
What’s happening is unbelievable.
In the meanwhile, unless prefectures choose not to follow Ministry instructions, the about 4.500 people having lost their job before Prefecture’s hearing in Milan are out of pardon. They might have a temporary looking for a job residence permit which is to be released when Prefecture’s hearing is to come, this means that they won’t know when.
Welfare ministry letter shows that a political debate is at the moment creating unsolvable problems within the government. Ministry of Interior has months ago recognized that finding new regular employments is possible, unfortunately Welfare Ministry has never accepted such decision and decided to obstacle it.
Ministry of Interior will hardly clear this situation. During last unions and deputy-minister Mantovano meeting, it was expressively stated that allowing the change of employers is a Welfare Ministry choice, Minister Maroni authorization is necessary.
I personally believe that it would be useless to refer to magistrateship in order to understand whether changing employment is lawful according to Bossi-fini law or not. Actual immigration law obliges migrant citizens, the exploitation victims, to accept the unbearable bureaucracy slowness.
No wonder that workers do lose their jobs while awaiting for regularization (consider that pardon was over months ago).
Thinking that stating that workers have to wait for regularization times and in the meanwhile they go back to clandestinity is that right interpretation of law is absurd.
Thinking that Welfare ministry interpretation of law is right is difficult even though we hold no court sentence so far.
When can regularization application forms be put into archives?
Bossi-Fini law art. 33, describing regularization procedures, provides for that regularization application forms can be put into archives only when both employee and employers do not attend Prefecture’s hearing. Ministry of Interior memorandums rightly state that when employees only go to the hearing and refer of the fact that they were dismissed they are allowed to a temporary six months residence permit. Laws and instructions state that regularization times should be 30/60 days long after pardon expiry date. We all well know that times elapsed.
This immigration and regularization rules haven’t changed general labour rules and they couldn’t possibly have introduced a special labour code for regularizing people. According to Italian Constitution all workers are equal and they are all therefore treated the same way. Different rights and duties cannot be created, regularized and regularizing migrants cannot hold different rights.
Employers have the right to fire workers as provided by law while employees have the right to quit a job. These rights, acknowledged to both emplyee and employers, are undisputable, it is therefore clear that clear that the above stated rights need to be respected by regularization.
If the Welfare Ministry aim is not to allow regular new employments and have thousands of workers conceiled working it will probably be necessary to appeal to magistrateship.
This can occur in two cases. In case a worker loses his/her job, he/she will immediately ask prefecture and police headquarters to have a temporary six months permit released. In case appointed offices do not answer within 30 days, people are entitled to appeal to T.A.R. to have this fact evaluated. Another experiment could be that employers choose anyway to regularly employ regularizing migrants holding the post office receit and having lost their former job. At the same time, apart from prefectures instructutions, employers should refer to qualified offices the new employment.
In other words, they would charge themselves of this.
Seeing how many prosecutors would consider the above stated unlawful would be very interesting. Can someone regularly employing people holding the right to stay in Italy while attending regularization be charged of a crime (art. 22 paragraph 12)?
What suggested is experimental, unfortunately migrants will have to try different experiments since government idleness is self evident.
I personally suggest this last experimental solution since it seems to be in line with what some prefectures state (the one in Verona, in Bologna, etc) “employers regularly employing workers finding themselves in the quoted situation are lawfully behaving”.
In fact Inps decided to accept such contributions paid by employers without making differencies between new employers and previous ones.
Inps accepts contributions while Welfare Ministry gave instructions to suspend all procedures.