Download article in original language : IT0403203FIT.DOC
In early March 2004, trade unions and employers signed a first national agreement regulating 'coordinated freelance contracts' (a form of atypical work midway between self-employment and dependent employment) in outsourced call centres, a sector which employs 180,000 people, 10,000 of whom are covered by the agreement. The deal includes a series of rules on the use of coordinated freelance workers and their rights and protection with regard to working time, types of work, vocational training,, termination of the work contract, maternity, sickness, end-of-service allowances and minimum pay.
The first national collective agreement regulating workers on 'coordinated freelance contracts' in outsourced call centres was signed on 3 March 2004. The accord was signed on the employers' side by the National Association of Outsourced Call Centre Services (Associazione Nazionale Servizi di Call Center in Outsourcing, Assocallcenter), affiliated to the General Confederation of Trade, Tourism, Services and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Commercio, del Turismo, dei Servizi e delle Piccole e Medie Imprese, Confcommercio). The trade union signatories were: the Italian Federation of Trade, Hotels, Canteen and Services Workers (Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Commercio Alberghi Mense Servizi, Filcams-Cgil) and New Work Identities (Nuove Identità di Lavoro, NIdiL-Cgil), affiliated to the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione generale italiana del lavoro, Cgil); the Italian Federation of Trade, Services and Tourism Workers (Federazione Italiana Addetti ai Servizi Commerciali Affini e del Turismo, Fisascat-Cisl) affiliated to the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione italiana sindacati lavoratori, Cisl); and the Italian Tourism, Trade and Services Workers Union (Unione Italiana Lavoratori Turismo Commercio e Servizi, UILTuCS-Uil) affiliated to the Union of Italian Workers (Unione italiana del lavoro, Uil).
The agreement, which for the moment covers only 'coordinated freelance workers' employed by the 32 companies that are members of the signatory industry association, applies the provisions of a national protocol signed in July 2003 to regulate the contracts of workers in outsourced call centres. The protocol supplements the national collective agreement for the distribution and services sector which envisages, amongst other matters, the 'stabilisation' of at least 40% of present coordinated freelance contracts.
'Employer-coordinated freelance work' (collaborazioni coordinate e continuative) is a form of 'atypical' work relationship considered to be 'midway' between self-employment and dependent employment (IT0011273F). It is growing rapidly in Italy and is much used in the call-centre sector - of the 180,000 people employed by outsourced call centres, 10,000 are covered by the new agreement (65% of whom are women).
Contents of the agreement
The agreement, which runs until 2005, introduces numerous innovations into the regulations on the use of coordinated freelance workers in outsourced call centres (the rules do not concern in-house call centres, which are covered by the national sectoral agreement applied by the employer concerned). The agreement therefore concerns a form of flexible work which at the legislative level - until the 2003 'Biagi law' on labour market reform (IT0307204F) - was little protected and regulated. This has encouraged improper use of it, mainly to avoid the costs of dependent labour (IT0308304F).
The main points of the agreement are as follows.
- The agreement applies to all relevant employment relationships, including casual work (as defined by Article 61 of legislative decree no. 276/03, implementing the 'Biagi law') and freelance work, irrespective of the worker's possession of an individual VAT code (Article 1 of the agreement).
- Coordinated freelance workers in call centres are given broad autonomy in defining their working hours and modes of work. In this regard, the agreement stipulates that every seven days the worker should present the employer with his or her work schedule. Every three months, these schedules are submitted by the company to the local structures of the trade unions which signed the agreement and to the unitary workplace union structure s (rappresentanze sindacali unitarie, Rsus) or plant-level union structure s (rappresentanze sindacali aziendali, Rsas) (IT0309304T). The schedules must comprise 'time bands' of a minimum of three and a maximum of eight hours of work per day, and for a minimum of 60 hours per month (Article 5 of the agreement). Each worker is entitled to a rest period of 30 calendar days during the annual duration of the contract (Article 8). The contract cannot be renewed or extended for fewer than six months (Article 6). Moreover, workers who have had contracts with the company in the past six months have a priority right should a vacancy become available, including on an open-ended contract (Article 9).
- Special tables define minimum wage levels (Article 10), which are in line with those set by the relevant national sectoral agreement for dependent employees and are updated when the agreement is renewed. The minimum pay is fixed at EUR 6.7 an hour for the first year and EUR 7.65 for the second.
- In the event of sickness, workers are to be covered by an insurance policy, the terms of which are defined by the parties and which is paid for by the company (Article 18). Moreover, in the event of sickness, the contract is suspended for up to 90 days in the course of the calendar year (Article 11).
- In the event of industrial accident, the contract is suspended until the worker’s recovery or the expiry of the contract (Article 11).
- In the event of pregnancy, the worker is entitled to take leave of absence for a total of 180 days. If the pregnancy is 'at risk', the worker may begin her leave of absence earlier. The same article grants 15 days of absence for marriage.
- In the future, supplementary pension insurance is to be made available to coordinated freelance workers. Within six months of the signing of the agreement, the parties will meet again to define the form and the amount of funds already existing in the sector (the FON.TE supplementary pension fund for 'third-sector' companies) (Article 22).
- Coordinated freelance workers are entitled to vocational training and retraining provisions. The hours taken up by this training are paid at the same rate as working hours (Article 12).
- The contract may be terminated only in the event of serious breach of contract (Article 13). In the event of disputes, a conciliation procedure can be activated. In all cases of cessation of the employment relationship, the coordinated freelance worker is entitled to an end-of-service allowance amounting to 8% of the total pay received.
- Coordinated freelance workers have the right to elect a trade union representatives and to use a fixed amount of hours for union activities and to attend assemblies (Article 16).
- The Rsu/Rsa has prior information rights over the hiring of coordinated freelance workers. At the company/territorial bargaining level, the signatories to the agreement may agree to higher pay levels and/or to weekly work schedules different from those envisaged by the national agreement. Also to be defined at the company level are forms of access to information, vocational training, and workplace safety and accident prevention measures (Article 21). Workers using computers are entitled to a 15-minute paid break every two hours (Article 21).
- According to the final provisions of the agreement (Article 23), regulation of the 'project contracts' introduced by legislative decree 276/30 (whereby firms may convert coordinated freelance workers into 'project' or 'work programme' workers - IT0307204F) is postponed until a further agreement to be concluded in June 2004. Until this agreement has been signed, it will not be possible to use the project worker system, so that the 'old' coordinated freelance contracts are effectively extended until 31 October 2005.
Reactions
The signatories of the agreement have declared themselves fully satisfied with it. For Assocallcenter, the organisation representing the call-centre companies, the agreement should serve as a template for the sector, promoting competition based on service quality rather than on exploitation of workers. The trade unions, too, have expressed their satisfaction: 'Finally left behind is a situation in which the ‘'law of the jungle'’ prevailed and workers were used in some cases to replace dependent employees, with decidedly low wages,' stated Gianni Rodilosso, the national secretary of UILTuCS-Uil. The other two main union organisations in the sector (Filcams-Cgil and Fisascat-Cisl), have unreservedly welcomed the agreement, emphasising its innovative character because it regulates these employment relationships, enabling the correct and joint management of this form of 'atypical' work in a sector which makes much use of it.
Commentary
The agreement reached by the social partners introduces a series of guarantees (on maternity, minimum wages, sickness, end-of-service allowances, and trade union rights) for workers on coordinated freelance contracts, and specific rules on the use of this form of 'atypical' work. This is a category of precarious workers to which the recent law reforming the Italian labour market - introduced by legislative decree 276/03 implementing 'proxy law' 30/03 (the so-called 'Biagi law') - paid particular attention. Indeed, according to Article 61 of legislative decree 276/03 contracts for coordinated freelance work should be converted - after a transitional phase - into one or more specific 'project' or 'work plan' contracts; otherwise, these employment relationships will be considered to be open-ended employment contracts. The aim of the legislation is to curb abuses in the use of coordinated freelance workers by introducing regulations with regard to definition of requirements for these forms of flexible work and leaving it to individual or collective bargaining to give a more precise definition to the system of guarantees and to the rules on using this form of labour.
The first national agreement on coordinated freelance contracts in outsourced call centre thus seems to address those aspects neglected by the legislation. In fact, this outcome of collective bargaining - by extending until 31 October 2005 the transitional phase of conversion from coordinated freelance work to 'project' or 'programme' contracts established by the new legislation - highlights the ability of the social partners to reach agreements which introduce significant protection for workers. It is consequently a possible complementary solution to that introduced by the legislators. (Diego Coletto, Fondazione Regionale Pietro Seveso)