The ‘ strike’ of meal vouchers has been confirmed for tomorrow 15 June, when they will not be accepted in bars, restaurants, grocery stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets belonging to the main trade and distribution associations: And Conad, ANCC Coop, Federdistribuzione, FIEPeT-Confesercenti, Fida and Fipe-Confcommercio.

Federdistribuzione reminds us in a note, underlining that this is a “drastic action” (communicated to consumers by means of the press and posting of posters), “which became necessary to urgently ask the Government for a radical reform of the system of meal vouchers with the goal of safeguarding an important service for millions of workers and making it economically sustainable “.

The reasons for the strike

“In Italy, we have unfair commissions, the highest in Europe. We are talking about 20% of the face value of each voucher. It is a mechanism greatly influenced by the discounts obtained by Consip in the tenders launched with the logic of the maximum discount.
It is a pity that the savings that the public purchasing center manages to obtain in the assignment of the lots of meal vouchers are substantially canceled by the tax credit that the issuing companies obtain against the VAT difference between the rates applied for sale and collection. Our companies pay the bill “, says Alberto Frausin, President of Federdistribuzione.

“We want meal vouchers, a valuable service for millions of workers and families, to continue to be used in the future, but this will only be possible on the basis of reasonable economic conditions and radical reform of the current system which pays unsustainable commissions to companies and puts their economic equilibrium at risk “, concludes Frausin.

The protest of consumer associations

“Once again Italian consumers are used as hostages by large-scale distribution organizations and restaurateurs for claims which, even if correct in substance, end up damaging only and exclusively citizens”. This was stated by the consumer associations Adoc, Adiconsum, Assoutenti, and Federconsumatori, who bluntly reject the meal vouchers strike called for tomorrow 15 June.

“If the protest against the disadvantageous conditions of the meal vouchers is correct in its motivations, the person against whom the strike is carried out, that is the consumers, is completely wrong, because it will be only the users who will pay the price for this initiative. understands why the organizations of the large-scale distribution and merchants have not thought of protests against Consip and Mef,