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In December 2003, sectoral employers' organisations and trade unions signed a renewal of the pay part of the national collective agreement for the Italian chemicals industry, without resort to any industrial action and before the old provisions were due to expire. The deal provides for an average monthly pay increase of EUR 100 and introduces a night-work allowance for shift workers.
On 17 December 2003, a renewal of the pay part of the national collective agreement for the Italian chemicals industry (IT0203103N) was signed by the Unitary Federation of Chemicals Workers (Federazione Unitaria Lavoratori Chimici, Fulc) - which brings together the sectoral federations affiliated to the three main trade union confederations - and the Federchimica and Farmindustria employers' organisations. The pay provisions of the agreement - which covers over 200,000 workers in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors - were due to expire on 1 January 2004. The key provisions of the new agreement are that: 'concertation' was reconfirmed as the basis for relations between the parties, aimed at ensuring negotiations without conflicts; it awards a pay increase which will safeguard workers' purchasing power.
The Italian chemicals sector is currently facing problems, many linked to increasing globalisation of markets. Notably, 10,000 jobs have been lost in the man-made fibres subsector during the past decade, reducing its workforce from 15,000 to 5,000. According to the sectoral social partners, given its industrial structure based on small and medium-sized enterprises, Italy has suffered more than other Member States from the introduction of EU regulations on chemical substances. In order to deal with the situation and avoid further decline of the sector, the social partners have jointly asked the government to take prompt and decisive action to sustain the international competitiveness of Italian chemicals companies. They have also called for the government to: simplify administrative procedures; reconvert industrial areas; give more impetus to research and innovation; seek the introduction of significant amendments to the EU regulations; and resume, as soon as possible, negotiations at institutional level over the reorganisation of the pharmaceuticals sector.
Despite the industry's current difficulties, the collective agreement signed in December 2003 provides for an average monthly wage increase of EUR 100, paid in three instalments - EUR 44 in January 2004, EUR 44 in January 2005 and EUR 12 in October 2005. Moreover, shiftworkers will received a night-work allowance of EUR 4.5 for each night of work from 1 January 2005. This allowance will not be paid to workers in the fibres subsector, but the partners have committed themselves to assessing the possibility of introducing it when negotiating the next renewal of the national collective agreement in 2006. Before the end of 2004, the partners will also define a new job classification system for workers in the fibres subsector and launch the sector's supplementary pension fund (Faschim).
The new agreement also deals with the criteria to be observed when managing outsourcing processes. It defines very precisely health and safety as well as environmental guidelines to be respected by companies to which productive activities are outsourced. Finally, from January 2004 the parties will establish a joint committee to examine technical aspects of the application of the recent 'Biagi law' on the reform of the labour market (IT0303103N).
The signatories welcomed the agreement and underlined the absence of conflict which, despite the industrial problems of the sector, characterised the negotiations. Giacomo Berni, the general secretary of the sectoral affiliate of the General Confederation of Italian Labour (Confederazione Italiana Generale del Lavoro, Cgil), expressed his satisfaction with the agreement and underlined that it is a very positive deal signed before the expiry of its predecessor. According to Aldo Fumagalli Romario, vice-president of Federchimica, a pragmatic method based on constructive dialogue among the partners played a fundamental role in securing the agreement. The fact that the partners agreed to ask jointly for prompt and decisive action by the government in favour of the sector was an important element which helped the negotiations to have a positive outcome. Sergio Gigli, the general secretary of the sectoral affiliate of the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione Italiana Generale del Lavoro, Cisl), underlined that this is the first agreement which applies the recent Biagi law.