Scala mobile

Scala mobile (literally in German: escalator , analogous wage escalation clause ) was a clause agreed in Italy in 1975, according to which wages should automatically follow inflation . Specifically, the wages were subsequently adjusted quarterly to the price development of a defined shopping basket.

The Scala mobile was controversial from the start, as it was suspected that the clause caused self-reinforcing inflation (a so-called wage-price spiral ).

In 1977 Scala Mobile was the subject of political disputes. The occasion was the linking of the condition of the abolition of the Scala mobile to the granting of a loan from the World Bank .

In 1979, after long labor disputes, the unions achieved the introduction of Scala mobile for state employees as well.

After the inflation rate climbed over 21% (1980) in the early 1980s, the political discussion about its abolition intensified. It was not politically enforceable. The government under Bettino Craxi , however, eased the adjustment rules and thus achieved a reduction in the inflation rate to around 5% by the end of the 1980s. This was approved by referendum on June 9, 1985 with the approval of 54.38% of voters.

On July 31, 1992, Scala mobile was abolished after long discussions and strikes. With the approval of employers and trade unions, the "Labor Agreement" of July 1993 named the fight against inflation, the reduction of public deficits and exchange rate stability as the primary goals of economic policy. The background to this agreement after decades of dispute was the desire for Italy to participate in the European Monetary Union (the introduction of the euro ).