(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 8 - Premier Giorgia Meloni and centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein sparred on Friday after the former said the Right defended workers better than "the caviar Left" and the latter shot back that she didn't eat caviar but couldn't stand castor oil, the substance Italy's Fascists poured down opponents' throats to induce severe diarrhea.
    The exchange was sparked by Meloni's stating at a European Political Community sumit in Budapest Thursday that she was unable to take time off sick, while suffering from the flu, and had to work because she didn't have any union rights - a statement Schlein characterised as "mocking workers".
    Meloni retorted Friday: "I'm sorry that even on this we can create a controversy over something completely useless, I don't know what is meant by debasing trade union rights, which this government defends much better than the caviar left".
    This prompted Schlein to reply: "I have never eaten caviar, but I cannot stand workers being purged with castor oil either; so we will continue to stand by them.
    "Meloni should instead deal with the minimum wage that she has denied to three and a half million workers who can no longer cope and cannot make it to the end of the month even if they work". (ANSA).