Company agreement signed at Piaggio

Download article in original language : IT0408103NIT.DOC

In June 2004, a 'complementary' company-level agreement was signed at Piaggio, the Italian scooter manufacturer - the first such deal to be signed at the firm for nine years. The agreement creates an hour bank, introduces new flexible forms of employment, sets up a performance-related pay scheme and provides for the establishment of a European Works Council.

Piaggio, founded in 1884 by Rinaldo Piaggio and run by the Piaggio family until 1999, has played an important role in the Italian motor vehicle industry. It made its name with the introduction of the Vespa scooter in 1946, which became one of the best known symbols of Italian design around the world. During the 1990s, the company became Piaggio & C and since October 2003 it has been part of Immsi Spa, an industrial and real estate holding controlled by the entrepreneur Roberto Colaninno, who is also the president of the group. Piaggio is currently based in Pontera (Pisa) and is one of the world’s leading firms in the construction of two-wheeled vehicles, under the Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera and Derbi brands. It has production plants in Italy, Spain, India and China, and a commercial network which covers 55 countries worldwide. In 2003, Piaggio's turnover increased by 4.4% compared with the previous year, reaching about EUR 1 billion. Its Italian workforce stands at around 3,800, of whom some 500 are seasonal workers.

On 3 June 2004, a complementary agreement (accordo integrativo) was signed by Piaggio & C Spa management and the three main metalworking trade union federations - the Italian Federation of Metalworkers (Federazione impiegati operai metallurgici, Fiom) affiliated to the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione generale italiana del lavoro, Cgil), the Italian Metal-Mechanical Federation (Federazione italiana metalmeccanici, Fim) affiliated to Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione italiana sindacati lavoratori, Cisl), and the Union of Italian Metal-Mechanical Workers (Unione italiana lavoratori metalmeccanici, Uilm) affiliated to the Union of Italian Workers (Unione italiana del lavoro, Uil). A 'complementary agreement' supplements at company level the provisions laid down by a sectoral collective agreement (in this case that for metalworking), and no such deal has been signed at Piaggio since 1995. The June accord is thus seen as marking a turning point in the company's industrial relations.

The agreement sets up three management-union joint bodies and a working group:

• a national observatory to analyse labour market trends, production forecasts, decentralisation of production and possible outsourcing;
• a vocational training committee;
• a committee on working time, which will analyse working and production times and possible changes; and
• a working group to study an alternative to the company's current work organisation based on 15 shifts.

The agreement also provides for the establishment of a European Works Council (EWC) after the necessary preliminaries, such as the appointment of the employee representatives and negotiations over the EWC's exact role.

Other provisions of the Piaggio accord include the following:

• it introduces an 'hours bank' (banca delle ore), whereby all employees may accumulate credits for overtime hours worked (a maximum of 56 in 2005 and 64 in 2006 and 2007) in a personal bank. On the employee's request, the hours saved in the bank can be used for extra time off or be paid in cash (at a premium of 35% on top of the normal rate);
• each year management and the unitary workplace union structure (rappresentanze sindacali unitarie, Rsu) (IT0309304T) will jointly examine the company's production plans and the tools and resources necessary for achieving these plans (in terms of working time, temporary recruitment, part-time contracts etc), and evaluate production levels and possible variations;
• it sets up a performance-related pay scheme linked to three performance indicators - productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction (which will be assessed on the basis of surveys conducted by an external specialist company). A performance-related bonus will be paid to all workers employed on an open-ended contract and will vary from EUR 700 to EUR 1,800 per year. Fixed-term contract workers will receive EUR 25 gross for each month worked in 2005, EUR 27 per month in 2006 and EUR 30 per month in 2007;
• the company will adopt new health and safety measures, increase training for health and safety representatives and monitor temperatures in its plants; and
• it introduces new forms of employment, as provided for by Law 30/2003 on the reform of labour market regulation (the 'Biagi law') (IT0307204F). Notably, 250 workers will be recruited on cyclical 'vertical' part-time employment contracts - ie involving working days similar to those of full-time workers, but with the number of working days reduced. The company will also use 'horizontal' part-time employment contracts (ie with reduced hours every day) and fixed-term employment contracts (especially in the spring and summer). During regular talks, management and the Rsu will consider the possibility of having recourse to other forms of employment.

The trade unions are very satisfied with the content of the agreement, and especially with the fact that complementary bargaining has been re-established at Piaggio. However, according to Fim-Cisl, in the past the problem at Piaggio has not lain in signing agreements but rather in implementing them.