In May 2006, the employer organisations Federchimica and Farmindustria, affiliated to Confindustria, and Italy’s main trade unions representing the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector – Filcem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil – renewed the national collective agreement for the sector. Key aspects of the agreement pertain to overtime work, fixed-term contracts and pay increases. The most innovative aspects of the new agreement are its temporary provision for company-level agreements that derogate from the national collective agreement and the ‘pact on training’. Following the agreement’s signature, some trade union leaders criticised the provision allowing derogation at company level.
The collective agreement for the chemicals sector is the most advanced in Italy as regards the regulation of working time. It is the only national agreement that provides for the annualisation of working hours on the basis of a yearly total (247.5 days in a year for an average weekly amount of 37.45 hours). If this weekly average is guaranteed, schedules ranging from a minimum of 28 hours to a maximum of 48 hours can be applied. Any hours worked in excess of the weekly average are credited to the individual worker’s ‘hours bank’.
Traditionally, a low level of industrial conflict and good relations between the social partners characterise the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector. Such a positive climate favoured the renewal of the sector’s national collective agreement, which was signed on 10 May 2006 – less than half a year after its expiration on 31 December 2005. This is in sharp contrast to the generally tense nature of industrial relations in Italy in recent years.
Moreover, the agreement was reached without the trade union confederations having to resort to any form of industrial action. The most recent general strike action in the sector was in March 2006 with regard to demands for an appropriate industrial policy to halt the decline of the Italian chemicals industry and to revitalise the sector.
Signatories to agreement
Italy’s main employer organisations and trade unions representing the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector signed the renewed national collective agreement for the sector.
On the employer side, the agreement was signed by the National Federation of the Chemical Industry (Federazione Nazionale dell’Industria Chimica, Federchimica) and the National Pharmaceutical Industry Federation (Federazione Nazionale dell’Industria Farmaceutica, Farmindustria), both affiliated to the General Confederation of Italian Industry (Confederazione Generale dell’Industria Italiana, Confindustria).
On the trade union side, the following sectoral organisations signed the agreement: the Italian Chemicals, Energy and Manufacturing Federation (Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Chimici Energia Manifatture, Filcem-Cgil), affiliated to the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil); the Energy, Chemicals and Allied Industries Federation (Federazione Energia Moda, Chimica e Affini, Femca-Cisl), affiliated to the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, Cisl); and the Italian Chemicals, Energy and Manufacturing Union (Unione Italiana Lavoratori Chimica Energia Manifatturiero, Uilcem-Uil), affiliated to the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil).
Provisions of agreement
The renewed agreement provides for a number of important amendments or innovations:
- An average pay increase (according to job classification) of €100 for 2006–2007 has been agreed, to be divided into three instalments – €44 as of 1 May 2006, €44 as of 1 January 2007 and €12 as of 1 October 2007. For the period between 1 January 2006 and 30 April 2006 – the four-month period during which the agreement had expired – companies will pay workers a lump sum of €176.
- Hours worked in excess of the average weekly amount and overtime can be converted into time off in lieu or they can be paid (with the increments envisaged by the agreement), according to the worker’s preference. The agreement provides for the following options:
- 50% converted into time off in lieu and the remaining 50% paid;
- 100% converted into time off in lieu;
- 100% paid – this option is a new provision of the agreement.
- In relation to training, three days per year are allocated to continuing training. Of these, the company pays for one and a half days, which are added to the annual work schedule, and the worker deducts half a day of his or her time off in lieu or from the reduction of working hours provided for by the agreement. Training programmes are drawn up by the National Bilateral Training Body (as under the previous agreement), which provides guidelines for training schemes.
- A temporary derogation of the national agreement’s provisions for company-level agreements is allowed in the case of particular economic conditions; however, derogations detrimental to minimum pay levels and to ‘inalienable individual rights’ are excluded from this arrangement. Any derogation agreement must be unanimously approved by the National Bargaining Committee signatory to the agreement, which consists of five members representing the two employer organisations, Federchimica and Farmindustria, and the three trade unions, Filcem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil.
- The duration of fixed-term contracts (fixed-term or temporary employment) may not exceed 48 months over a period of five years and temporary agency contracts (temporary-employment agency work) may not exceed 18% of the total workforce employed on open-ended contracts.
Reactions
Reactions by the social partners have been largely positive. The Vice-President of Federchimica, Aldo Fumagalli, emphasised the three distinctive provisions of the agreement: ‘strong investment in training with the commitment of both companies and workers; the possibility to derogate from the national agreement to assist companies in difficulties; and the introduction of greater working time flexibility’.
The three General Secretaries of Filcem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil, Alberto Morselli, Sergio Gigli and Romano Bellissima, consider that ‘the real innovation of the agreement, one that is unique in Italian industrial relations,’ is the accord on training, moving in the direction of a ‘strong investment in human resources’.
However, representatives of Filcem belonging to the left wing of Cgil, among others, voiced some criticisms regarding the agreement’s provision on derogation for company-level agreements. Giorgio Cremaschi, member of the national secretariat of the Italian Federation of Metalworkers (Federazione Italiana Operai Metalmeccanici, Fiom-Cgil), highlighted that: ‘For the first time ever, a national agreement establishes the principle of derogation from its provisions at company level. Although it excludes any detriment to pay levels and individual rights, this clause opens a way for a worsening of working time conditions and all aspects related to the organisation of work’.
Livio Muratore, Ires Lombardia