Monti’s labour-law tangle

SOMETHING unItalian happened late on March 20th. Mario Monti, the prime minister, was trying to persuade employers and unions to accept labour-market reforms. In the past, the usual result has been all-night talks ending in a document so content-free that all sides accept it. This time, when it became clear that unanimity was impossible, Mr Monti declared the talks over and said his government would press ahead regardless.

A last-ditch meeting was planned for March 22nd, but the chances of getting Italy's biggest trade union federation, the CGIL, to agree seem negligible. Indeed, the CGIL now threatens a one-day nationwide strike and another eight hours of disruptive assemblies. Its gripe is changes in the dismissal law. Today firms with more than 15 workers cannot get rid of employees even in a downturn without risking legal proceedings that can last years. If a judge then decides the company has acted unfairly, it can be forced to rehire the worker and pay him his lost earnings. Employers say this is a colossal deterrent to hiring when times are good, and helps to explain why a third of Italy's youths are jobless.