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 The meeting in Milan coincides with a confidence vote in
parliament to push through legislation that will enable the
government to alter parts of the labor code including job protection
measures that are fiercely defended by unions.
"Jobs have been eroded throughout Europe and we're here to push for
a new system that supports workers," said Fabrizio Portaluri, a
union delegate who works at tyre-maker Pirelli's plant in Bollate
near Milan. "The governments have to start to listen to what people
are saying," he said.
Some isolated scuffles broke out when masked protesters threw flares
at police in riot gear but there were no reports of serious
violence.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois
Hollande were due in Milan along with leaders from other European
Union countries for a meeting billed as a "high level conference" on
jobs and growth.
No concrete measures are expected from the meeting, which is due to
last no more than three hours and which comes ahead of a full
European Union summit at the end of the month.
But Renzi wants to use it as a platform to focus on the unemployment
crisis in southern European countries like Italy, where the youth
jobless rate has topped 44 percent and where a generation of young
people risk being shut out of the labor market.
German Labor Minister Andrea Nahles said the meeting would discuss
more effective use of funds earmarked to help young people into
work. "It is important that the money that is available arrives as
soon as possible," she told reporters.
BUDGET DISPUTE
However the event may be overshadowed by a dispute over national
budgets with France and Italy both in the firing line after putting
back deficit and debt targets previously agreed with their European
Union partners.
Rome, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and Paris both
argue that rigid application of budget rules will strangle the euro
zone's sickly economy, but they face opposition from Germany, which
says countries must first push through effective structural reforms.
Renzi is desperate for a concrete sign that he is making progress
with reform promises he made when he took office in February.
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His labor reform is intended to overhaul a system widely criticised
for offering rigid guarantees to employees on full permanent
contracts while leaving an increasing army of workers on short-term
contracts with almost no protection. At present, permanent
employees of larger companies can sue to get their jobs back in
cases of unfair dismissal. But the rules exclude those on short-term
contracts, many of whom are younger people entering the workforce,
and do not apply to the thousands of firms with fewer than 15
employees.
Renzi says the rigid labor law makes it unattractive for firms to
take on new staff and deters foreign investment.
In the face of opposition from unions and sections of his own
centre-left Democratic Party, Renzi wants to replace the system with
a simpler set of rules that offer workers more protection as their
seniority increases.
But he has yet to spell out the details and the confidence vote,
expected as the Milan meeting is due to conclude, will apply to
broad-brush guidelines that will be filled out later.
The confidence vote in the Senate, where the government has a slim
majority, is aimed at truncating debate, and Renzi said he expected
party rebels to swing behind him.
(Additional reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, Elvira Pollina and
Cristiano Corvino; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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