Fifty years of the Workers' Statute (1970-2020)

Abstract

The essay commemorates the fifty years passed since the birth of the Workers’ Statute. The A. recalls its long gestation over the course of almost twenty years, with the maturation of its two souls: the constitutional one (guaranteeing the freedom and dignity rights of workers), and the “promotional” one (promoting trade unions with particular representativeness). He also analyses if and how the spirit of the statute has found place within following legislation. According to the A. Workers’ Statute is still alive, albeit amputated, but with a much narrower scope, due to the reduction of its reference model, that of the Fordist factory. However, it is not yet clear what the next path of labour legislation will be. It still appears to be rather uncertain as regards the constantly expanding “grey area” between employees and self-employed workers. The options are two: extension of the typical protection granted to the employment relationship vs. introduction of a graduated protection regime.