On 16 May 2009, the transport trade unions and the FS Group signed an agreement to relaunch the competitiveness of the group’s enterprises. The agreement provides for the restructuring of the group, including the initiation of a three-year process of ‘reinternalisation’ of activities linked to the maintenance of tracks and infrastructure, the introduction of single-engine drivers and 900 new jobs before the end of 2009. The income support fund for the group will also be reorganised.
Following lengthy negotiations, which started in July 2008 and which were interrupted and then recommenced in March 2009, on 16 May 2009, the FS Group (Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato) and the sectoral trade unions finally signed an agreement with the aim of relaunching the competitiveness of the group. On the trade union side, the agreement was signed by the Italian Federation of Transport Workers (Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Trasporti, Filt-Cgil), the Italian Transport Federation (Federazione Italiana Trasporti, Fit-Cisl), the Italian Union of Transport Workers (Unione Italiana dei Lavoratori dei Trasporti, Uiltrasporti), the General Transport Workers’ Union (Unione Generale del Lavoro – Trasporti, UGL Trasporti) and the Autonomous Transport Trade Union Federation (Federazione Autonoma dei Sindacati dei Trasporti, FAST).
The Independent and Rank-and-File Trade Unions Organisation (Organizzazione Sindacati Autonomi e di Base, Or.S.A.) only signed the part of the agreement regarding the Fund for income support (in Italian, 263Kb PDF), instituted by the National Competition Authority (NCA) in 1998 and administrated by the FS Group, Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, Uiltrasporti, UGL Trasporti, FAST and the Or.S.A. trade union. The aim of the fund is to sustain the income and employability of the employees of the FS Group’s enterprises following restructuring, industrial reconversion or end of activities of one or more of the group’s units.
Content of agreement
The agreement is divided into several sections. One part relates to the future programmes of the FS Group. Moreover, there are four attachments which define, among other things, the reorganisation of the Italian Railway Network (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, RFI). The latter is the enterprise within the FS Group responsible for infrastructure management, staff composition on trains and the reorganisation of the income support fund.
Evaluating effectiveness of measures
Six-monthly evaluations are planned, up to the end of 2011, to assess the effectiveness of the solutions mentioned in the agreement. Furthermore, the signatories of the agreement will meet specifically to examine possible hypotheses regarding the future set-up of the FS Group.
Company bargaining
Company bargaining will have a fundamental role to play, particularly in the management of the organisational and employment consequences following the considerable changes caused by technological innovation and the evolution of the markets which have influenced and will continue to influence the Italian railway system.
The agreement foresees the adaptation of the bargaining norms of the FS Group in order to conform to the national collective agreement regarding mobility. The latter agreement, for which negotiations between the actors have already commenced, will unite numerous current national collective agreements that are in force in the land and maritime transport sectors.
Production and organisational changes
From an organisational point of view, the most important aspect addressed in the agreement relates to the initiation of a three-year process of ‘reinternalisation’ or insourcing of activities linked to the maintenance of tracks and infrastructure. This change in the production and organisational set-up will be implemented through a multi-year work plan, which forecasts the recruitment of about 900 new staff in 2009. This figure is based on the expected volume of production and territorial agreements that will be stipulated.
Workforce adjustments
The agreement provides for the modification of the number of staff on trains. As a result, from 14 June 2009, only one train driver will be present on each train.
Reorganisation of income support fund
Another point covered in the agreement, which is the only one also to be agreed on by the Or.S.A. trade union, concerns the reorganisation of the income support fund for the transport sector. The normal provisions regarding this fund will be integrated and modified according to the legislative changes that have occurred since its institution in 1998. In accordance with the organisational changes in store for the FS Group, the fund will become a fundamental instrument for the protection of jobs and remuneration. Payments from the fund will, in almost all cases, be defined by territorial and regional bargaining.
Reactions
The Chief Executive Officer of the FS Group, Mauro Moretti, considers the agreement to be ‘an important step towards the industrial reconversion and the repositioning of FS on the national and international markets’.
Meanwhile, the National Secretary of Filt-Cigl, Alessandro Rocchi, is satisfied because ‘a long period of paralysis in industrial relations in the FS Group has ended and a new path has been outlined which must recreate the conditions for an intense and efficient form of bargaining at company level regarding the reorganisation processes’.
Vilma Rinolfi, Cesos