ROME (Reuters) – Italy is preparing special measures to help construction and agricultural firms keep staff at home during an intense summer heatwave, government officials and trade unionists said on Tuesday.
Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet will probably discuss the furlough scheme at a meeting on Wednesday, Labour Minister Marina Calderone told the unions at a gathering about the emergency.
“We welcome Minister Calderone’s statements announcing a new regime … in the construction and agriculture businesses,” said Massimo Blasi, head of the CISAL trade union at the end of the meeting.
Under Italian regulations, companies can apply for temporary lay-offs – usually to deal with a slump in business – for no more than 52 weeks over two years, or 90 days per year in the agricultural sector.
The new decree will allow construction and agricultural firms, both severely hit by the heatwave because their workers cannot work from home, to use the instrument without the hours being counted in the overall limits, officials said.
Although the measures have a cost for the state coffers, the government believes they can be covered by the funds already earmarked for the ordinary furlough scheme, which is not expected to be fully used, the officials added.
Italian hospitals in the regions worst hit by soaring temperatures are seeing a jump in heat-related heat-related emergencies, medics have said.
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Gavin Jones)
