On 20 February 2007, the municipality of Milan and three trade union confederations signed a preliminary agreement, which committed the parties to promoting a new system of industrial relations. This new system aims to re-launch the local-level concertation and involvement of the trade unions in relation to the main policy decisions taken by Milan’s municipal administration. Reactions to the agreement have so far been largely positive.
Industrial relations context
In recent years, industrial relations in the province of Milan have been marked by a breakdown in trade union solidarity. This was particularly evident in 2000, when the ‘Pact for work’ was endorsed by the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil), whereas the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil) refused to sign the pact (IT9908251F, IT0003264N). Nevertheless, unity was formally restored in 2002, with the signing of an agreement between the municipal administration, employer organisations and the trade unions, the latter this time including Cgil (IT0205203F). The deal was largely symbolic and its immediate purpose was to heal the divisions of 2000, at the same time enabling the drafting of a ‘Local plan for employment’ consistent with European Union guidelines.
On 20 February 2007, trade union solidarity was definitively restored with the signing of a new preliminary agreement aimed at establishing more innovative industrial relations. Based on this agreement, the municipality is set to involve the social partners more closely in the administration of the city of Milan.
Content of preliminary agreement
The preliminary agreement was signed by the Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, the City Councillor responsible for labour and employment policies, Andrea Mascaretti, and the general secretaries of Cgil, Cisl and Uil, who represented the respective Milanese trade union confederations.
The main aims of the agreement are as follows:
- Re-launching of trade union relationships with a view to protecting workers and pensioners and, at the same time, promoting the ongoing improvement of services for citizens and businesses.
- Informing the signatory trade unions, before discussion by the City Council, of resolutions by the Executive Committee, in order ‘to collect proposals and observations’ on policy decisions concerning the following key areas:
- municipal welfare – means testing for facilitated access by families to crèches, nursery schools and lower-secondary schools, as well as covering social health policies and environmental policies;
- environment and quality of life – measures relating to urban planning, quality of the environment, the traffic and road system, security, immigrant labour, and opening hours ‘with particular regard to gender specificities’;
- economic development policies – use and recovery of ‘brown-field sites’, measures relating to companies of public interest controlled or part-owned by the Municipality of Milan, the educational and training system, the labour market ‘with particular regard to vulnerable groups and employment problems’;
- annual budget forecasts.
- Opening of four permanent discussion forums, which will assemble at least once a year. The forums will consist of a coordinator, the relevant councillors and a maximum of five members from each trade union. Matters for discussion will concern the following issues:
- companies of public interest controlled or part-owned by the Municipality of Milan – the opening date for this discussion forum was 14 March 2007;
- citizen welfare – discussion opening date of 16 April 2007;
- labour policies – discussion opening date of 14 May 2007;
- discussion on development, innovation and infrastructure – discussion opening date of 11 June 2007.
- In order to support the activity of the discussion forums, a permanent observatory will be created to monitor labour market dynamics and labour demand, as well as to propose innovative industrial relations arrangements.
Reactions to agreement
The signatories expressed their unanimous satisfaction with the agreement. According to Mayor Moratti, the agreement represents ‘an attempt to open a new period of trade union relations, endowing Milan with a local development and employment plan that pursues the targets set by the Lisbon agenda’. The mayor added that an important aspect of the agreement concerns the establishment of a permanent observatory, whose scientific committee consists of leading national experts; she described this body as an ‘instrument that should not only “photograph” the situation but that should also suggest policies and programmes to create employment and development’.
The innovative nature of the agreement was also underlined by City Councillor Mascaretti, who declared that the document is ‘the first in Italy, besides the Lisbon strategy, which is in line with the local action plan for innovation, growth and employment’. According to the councillor, the next step should constitute ‘the involvement, as soon as possible, of the other social partners, beginning with the Association of Lombardy Industry (Associazione dell’Industria Lombarda, Assolombarda) and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Handicraft and Agriculture of Milan (Camera di Commercio, Industria, Artigianato e Agricoltura di Milano)’.
The trade union representatives also expressed their satisfaction with the agreement. The General Secretary of the Milan branch of Cgil, Onorio Rosati, stated that: ‘the protocol is a highly innovative instrument that sends out the signal that we prefer discussion and dialogue. It will now be the task of politics to demonstrate the efficacy of this agreement.’
Commentary
Although the understanding reached between the Municipality of Milan and the trade unions only represents a preliminary agreement, which is therefore not yet in effect, it is nevertheless progressive in its intent. More specifically, the agreement is particularly innovative in terms of the issues covered – which concern the overall responsibilities of the city administration – and in relation to the way in which these issues should be addressed – namely, through collective bargaining. If the pledges contained in the preliminary agreement are maintained, a different phase of trade union relations may develop in the future. A particular issue at hand concerns not only the recovery of the old practice of concertation, but also a new model of local governance in which politics – in this case the municipal administration of Milan – will decide on more important matters only after consulting with the trade unions.
The final outcome may lead to a decentralisation of industrial relations, whereby the social partners co-participate in the formulation of local policies for employment, welfare and economic development.
Source
Protocollo di intenti tra il Comune di Milano e le Confederazioni Sindacali Cgil-Cisl-Uil (in Italian, 694Kb PDF), Fondazione Marco Biagi, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia.
Livio Muratore, Ires Lombardia