This record reviews the main industrial relations developments in Italy during 2004.
Political developments
Elections to the European Parliament and for the renewal of 4,518 local councils (including 30 provincial centres, 63 provinces and one region, Sardinia) were held simultaneously on 12 and 13 June 2004. A total electorate of 50,007,650 was involved in the European elections, 35,212,317 in the administrative elections for the municipalities and provinces, and 1,452,577 for the region of Sardinia. Total turn-out was 73.1% of those entitled to vote, an increase when compared with the European elections of 1999, when 71.85% voted.
In the European elections, the centre-left coalition won 37 parliamentary seats and the centre-right coalition 36. In the administrative elections, 52 provinces went to the centre-left coalition and 11 to the centre-right coalition, while the presidency of the region of Sardinia was won by the centre-left coalition. Of great political significance were the victories of the centre-left alliance in the province of Milan and the municipality of Bologna, where the former general secretary of the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione generale italiana del lavoro, Cgil), Sergio Cofferati, was elected mayor of the city in the first round of voting.
Forza Italia, the party founded by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, obtained 21% of the vote in the June elections (4.2 percentage points less than in the European elections of 1999 when it obtained 25.2%). The other parties of the centre-right majority coalition - the House of Freedoms (Casa delle Libertà) - obtained the following shares of the vote: the National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale, An) 11.5%; the Centre Christian Democratic Union (Unione Democratica Cristiana di Centro, Udc) 5.9%; and the Northern League (Lega Nord) 5%.
As regards the opposition centre-left parties, the party list Uniti nell’Ulivo, which comprises the Democratic Left (Democratici di Sinistra, Ds), La Margherita, the Italian Democratic Socialists (Socialisti Democratici Italiani, Sdi) and the European Republicans (Repubblicani Europei), obtained 31.1% of the vote. The other opposition parties obtained the following shares: the Communist Refoundation Party (Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, Prc) 6.1%; the Greens (Federazione dei Verdi) 2.5%; the Party of Italian Communists (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani, Pdci) 2.4%; the party list Di Pietro - Occhetto (Lista Di Pietro - Occhetto) 2.1%; the Democratic Union for Europe (Unione Democratici per l’Europa, Udeur) 1.3%.
The election results for the centre-right coalition proved to be a setback for Forza Italia and an advance for the Prime Minister’s allies, while among the centre-left alliance, Uniti nell’Ulivo consolidated its position, albeit to a lesser extent than expected. Overall, the centre-right alliance obtained 45.4% of votes and the centre-left coalition 46.1%.
In April 2005, important administrative elections will be held to renew 14 regional councils (Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria, Abruzzo, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria), eight of which are governed by the centre-right coalition and six by the centre-left . Voting will also take place in 10 provinces and 900 municipalities.
Collective bargaining
According to data on sectoral collective bargaining on pay, provided by the National Statistics Institute (Istituto nazionale di statistica, Istat), at the end of November 2004, there were 50 agreements in force, out of some 80 surveyed. These accords concerned almost 70% of all the employees covered by the survey. Still to be renewed at the end of November 2004 were 26 collective agreements, representing 35% of the total paybill and 3.8 million dependent employees. Among the sectors involved in such renewals, of particular relevance are transport, communications and related activities, banking and insurance, as well as the public administration, where all civil service workers are awaiting renewal of their collective agreement. On average, workers in sectors where the collective agreement has expired agreement have been awaiting renewals for 12 months.
Among the agreements signed by the social partners in 2004, of particular relevance is the multi-industry agreement for the artisanal (small crafts businesses) sector of March 2004, which introduced significant new features in the collective bargaining structure regulated by the national tripartite agreement of 23 July 1993 (IT0403104F). According to the artisanal agreement, the second bargaining level (the first being the national sector level) - the regional level for these sectors - will have the task of redistributing labour productivity according to parameters agreed by the social partners at regional level, and of recouping workers’ purchasing power if actual inflation exceeds the forecast level at the time the regional agreements were concluded. Although the agreement leaves the setting of wages according to the planned inflation rate to national sectoral bargaining, it introduces an innovation by allocating the two-yearly recovery of the gap between forecast and actual inflation to the decentralised territorial agreement.
The national agreement for local public transport workers was signed at the end of November (IT0412101N) bringing to an end a long-running conflict in the sector, which had repeatedly tested the resilience of the national bargaining level in this particular branch (IT0312204F).
Pay
According to figures from the National Council for Economic Affairs and Labour (Consiglio nazionale dell’economia e del lavoro, Cnel), in the first half of 2004 pay growth in the private sector accelerated, increasing from an annual 2.5% to 3.6%, due to the conclusion of numerous agreements in both industry (construction) and services (commerce). Conversely, pay growth in the public administration instead slowed due to non-renewal of agreements. According to Istat figures, in the third quarter of 2004 gross pay per unit of labour full-time equivalents in industry and services as a whole increased by an average of 2.9% compared with the same quarter in 2003. The growth rate by unit of labour full-time equivalents in the third quarter of 2004 was 3.5% in industry and 2.3% in services.
Among the sectoral collective agreements renewed in 2004, that for local public transport workers introduced more favourable pay levels for new recruits, the aim being to reduce the present difference between a new recruit and a colleague with longer service. The new pay scales permit more gradual transition from one level to the next (IT0412101N).
The renewal of the national collective agreement for industrial managers (IT0410307F), signed in September, defined a pay system comprising a minimum guaranteed salary (Trattamento minimo complessivo di garanzia, Tmcg), which replaces basic pay. The most significant feature of the new system is that collective bargaining will no longer determine an increase in actual wages, as long as these are above the minimum guaranteed salary, since the minimum guaranteed salary is not an element of pay but only a reference level. This means that there will be no more automatic pay rises. Therefore, the salary of managers will be exclusively set by individual bargaining, with the safeguard of the minimum guaranteed level.
Working time
In general, the national collective agreements renewed during 2004 regulated the introduction of the new forms of work foreseen by legislative decree 276/03 implementing proxy law 30/03 (the 'Biagi' Law - IT0307204F), which reformed the Italian labour market. Collective bargaining has consequently begun to address and regulate the use of some of these new forms of employment introduced by law to increase flexibility in all aspects of work, including time flexibility. Most notable among agreements which regulate working time, introducing in certain respects some forms of innovative management of working hours, are the following:
- an agreement on part-time work signed by the Union of Industrialists of Bergamo (Unione degli industriali della provincia di Bergamo), which represents around 1,300 firms with 83,000 workers, of whom 25,000 are women, and by the provincial structures of Cgil, the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati dei Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil). The agreement can be considered an important innovation in the Italian industrial relations system because for the first time key aspects of labour market regulation are negotiated at territorial level (IT0408102N). The agreement provides incentives for companies to increase the number of part-time staff through new recruitment or the conversion of part-time employment contracts into full time. It also includes a flexibility clause under which the company can change employees’ working time schedules with two days’ notice. In return, workers are entitled to time off which is paid according to the premium for overtime work established by the sectoral collective agreement;
- the first national agreement regulating 'coordinated freelance contracts' in outsourced call centres, signed by the social partners in March (IT0403203F). Among the array of rights and protections provided by the agreement, 'coordinated freelance workers' in call centres are given broad autonomy in defining their working hours and modes of work; and
- a complementary company-level agreement signed at Piaggio SpA, one of the largest scooter manufacturers in the world (IT0408103N). With regard to working time, the agreement established a committee on working hours and an 'hours bank' in which workers can accumulate overtime hours. Moreover, in January of each year, the company will examine, jointly with the unitary workplace union structure (Rappresentanza sindacale unitaria, Rsu), its production plans and the tools and resources necessary to achieve them (working time, temporary hirings, part-time contracts). Actual production levels and possible variations of the agreed plan will be communicated every month.
Job security
In an uncertain and turbulent economic environment, numerous companies drew up business plans for restructuring and reorganisation during the course of 2004. A prolonged situation of economic crisis once again highlighted the need for reform of the 'social shock absorbers', the measures the soften the effects of restructuring for workers (on the agenda for years but still not implemented - IT9802319F). While awaiting a new legislative framework, company restructuring and reorganisation gave rise to the most significant measures concerning job security. These plans involved both large industrial groups and individual companies of significance in their sector.
- In October 2004, an agreement was reached by the government, trade unions and the airline company Alitalia on economic recovery and relaunching (IT0410104F). The tripartite agreement ended long and difficult negotiations and contained important provisions concerning a new corporate structure and measures to assist workers as the company’s restructuring proceeds. The agreement provided for the extension of the social shock absorbers which apply in industry to the entire air transport sector. Redundant workers will thus be able to receive for 24 months an allowance from the extraordinary Wages Guarantee Fund (Cassa Integrazione Guadagni Straordinaria, Cigs) equal to 80% of their previous income and, after this period, a 'mobility allowance' (indennità di mobilità) for a maximum of three years, according to age. Income support for workers will be paid from a special solidarity fund (Fondo speciale di solidarietà per il sostegno al reddito dei lavoratori del trasporto aereo) financed by a contribution of 0.375% of the total annual pay bill of firms, while workers in the sector will contribute 0.125%. During restructuring, workers who benefit from the Cigs and mobility allowance will be involved in all the necessary training and outplacement measures to foster their redeployment to other companies.
- As part of the industrial restructuring plan for the troubled Parmalat group, on 3 November 2004 an agreement on industrial relations was signed by the main unions in the agro-food sector and by the group’s special administrator (IT0411203F). The agreement lays down guidelines for regulating employment relationships and relations between the new owners and the trade unions, safeguarding jobs, and providing social protection for all the group’s employees.
- In February 2004, the steel multinational ThyssenKrupp, the owner of the Acciai Speciali Terni (Ast) company, announced its intention to close the department producing electrical steel, putting 900 jobs at risk (500 workers employed in the department and 400 employees of subcontractors working in the same factory - IT0402203F). The decision provoked immediate protest by the Ast-Tk workforce in Terni and the mobilisation of the entire local community. A series of meetings between government representatives, the social partners and the company owners produced some preliminary results: ThyssenKrupp undertook to postpone the meeting of its supervisory board to decide the fate of electrical steel production at Terni; the 150 fixed-term contracts at the Terni steelworks would be renewed; and the investments already foreseen for the area would be realised, with a view to increasing the company’s commitment in the site’s development. The agreement was again discussed in the last months of the year, when ThyssenKrupp management decided to revise its business plan further and confirmed its decision to close the electrical steel department. In an attempt to resolve this further dispute, the trade unions and the ThyssenKrupp management scheduled a series of meetings which began in January 2005 (IT0501307F).
Equal opportunities and diversity issues
In Italy, equal opportunities issues are regulated both by law and by collective bargaining at two levels: national and company (or territorial). Generally, equal opportunities measures (so-called positive actions) are more frequently negotiated and implemented at company level (TN0402101S). The most significant developments in 2004 were as follows:
- in September, an experimental project to define measures to facilitate the re-entry of women into the labour market after maternity leave was concluded in Brianza (an area in Lombardy with high levels of manufacturing activities). More specifically, the project led to the creation of counselling and information services to assist companies and female workers during the process of reintegration into the workplace after maternity leave; and
- the renewal of the national collective agreement for the commerce sector introduced four new joint bodies, one of which is an equal opportunities committee (IT0407108F).
Training and skills development
In June 2004, a national intersectoral agreement was signed, transposing into Italian law the European framework agreement on telework of 16 July 2002 (EU0207204F). The agreement was signed by 21 employers’ associations and the three largest trade union confederations, Cgil, Cisl and Uil. It defined the general regulatory framework for telework, leaving ample space for collective and individual bargaining, although the latter must respect the minimum conditions for protection established by the text (IT0407205F) (see also below under 'New forms of work'). Among the most interesting aspects of the intersectoral agreement is the chapter on training, which states that teleworkers are guaranteed the same training and career development opportunities as those working on the employer’s premises, and that they are subject to the same assessment criteria. Moreover, they are entitled to receive specific technical and organisational training.
The part of the renewed national collective agreement for building workers (IT0406101N) concerned with vocational training gives the existing bilateral training system new responsibilities in the design of courses. The partners intend to turn current 'building schools' into national training agencies managed by the sectoral vocational training fund (Fondo per la formazione professionale, Formedil). Moreover, as regards workplace safety - a crucial problem given the high rate of fatal accidents in the building industry - the agreement increases the number of hours of training granted to health and safety representatives.
The new national collective agreement for industrial managers (IT0410307F) stipulates that the bipartite body for continuing training (Fondirigenti) must identify the training and skills-updating needs of managers, as well as monitoring the effectiveness of the training delivered. Moreover, Fondirigenti has created an experimental employment agency for the retraining and redeployment of unemployed or redundant managers.
Finally, the only agreement in Italy regulating the employment conditions of all employees working in a shopping centre, which was concluded in 2004 in Tuscany (IT0411202F), included provisions on the delivery of training courses on organisational and logistical aspects of the shopping centre to all workers, and on their rights and duties.
Other issues
The various agreement renewals that took place at both national and decentralised level during 2004 display a number of shared features. The most significant is the strengthening and extension of bilateralism and the creation (or consolidation) of sectoral supplementary pension funds. For example, the renewed national collective agreement for the commerce sector (IT0407108F) provides for the creation of a fund for supplementary healthcare for all workers, whose regulations and statute will be drawn up by an ad hoc joint committee. The contribution by companies to the supplementary fund will amount to 1.05% of pay in 2005 and 1.55% in 2006.
The multi-industry agreement signed by employers’ associations representing artisanal (small crafts) businesses and Cgil, Cisl and Uil (IT0403104F) acknowledged the fundamental importance of social concertation and promoted the strengthening of joint bodies. The system of bilateral bodies, which will be assessed and adjusted to the new bargaining structure, will deal with a wide range of issues, such as employee representation, health and safety, income support measures, training, pensions and supplementary pension schemes, research, the development of equal opportunities, and the labour market. In order to relaunch the sector’s existing supplementary pension fund (Artifond), the social partners undertake to review its operational procedures, established in a 1998 agreement, by reducing the minimum number of members required to make the fund operational, creating new regional funds, and introducing a 'silent consent' mechanism for adherence to the scheme.
At confederal level, the issue of reforming the bargaining structure has returned to the fore in the debate between the social partners. The three main trade union confederations - Cgil, Cisl and Uil - have taken up different positions on possible change to the collective bargaining system established by the July 1993 agreement. For this reason, the three confederations have set up a committee tasked with producing a common proposal for reform in early 2005 (IT0412306F).
Finally, after a period of conflict following the renewal of the national collective agreement for the metalworking industry, the three main sectoral trade union federations - the Italian Federation of Metalworkers (Federazione impiegati operai metallurgici, Fiom) affiliated to Cgil, the Italian Metal-Mechanical Federation (Federazione italiana metalmeccanici, Fim), affiliated to Cisl, and the Union of Italian Metal-Mechanical Workers (Unione italiana lavoratori metalmeccanici, Uilm) affiliated to Uil - drew up a single list of claims that they will present to the employers (IT0412205F).
Legislative developments
By the end of 2004, more than a year since legislative decree 276/03, all statutory instruments implementing the labour market reform law (IT0303103N and IT0307204F) were enacted, including some amendments of the various rules (IT0410303F), and collective bargaining had begun to address some of the innovations set out in the decree. Open-ended and fixed-term staff leasing arrangements (the second having replaced temporary agency work) were introduced between August and September 2004. On 2 August the largest temporary work agency associations applied to the Ministry of Labour for enrolment on the register of staff leasing agencies. The employers’ associations have welcomed the new system, while Cgil is critical of it. Legislative decree 276/2003 abolished 'coordinated freelance work' (but only in the private sector, see below) and introduced 'project work' in place of the previous types of freelance contract. The aim of the reform law was to prevent the improper, or even fraudulent, use of semi-subordinate employment relationships. The new regulations, however, have given rise to uncertainty among both freelancers and contractors (employers), due to the emergence of different interpretations of the legal definition of project work and of how to apply the law. In order to clarify the regulations on the use of project work, in mid-January 2004, the Ministry of Labour issued a circular which defined how the rules were to be applied (IT0404303F).
The organisation and role of the social partners
In May 2004, the general assembly of Confindustria, Italy’s main employers’ association, elected Luca Cordero di Montezemolo as its president by a large majority. The choice of Montezemolo as the successor to Antonio D’Amato has been interpreted as a change of direction in the organisation’s strategy (see below under 'Outlook'- IT0406102N).
2004 also saw a resumption of dialogue among the three main trade union confederations (Cgil, Cisl and Uil), and between them and the employers’ associations. On 10 March 2004, more than 6,000 delegates from Cgil, Cisl and Uil took part in a joint assembly in Rome, the first such event for 10 years. The unions agreed on the necessity of resuming united action to oppose government policy, which they consider to be ineffective, and of supporting a united platform on economic, incomes and social policy. The resumption of dialogue took concrete form in an agreement aimed at relaunching the economy of the south of Italy, signed in November 2004 by the three trade union confederations and 13 employers’ associations. The agreement proposes a set of measures, distinguishing them between medium/long-term actions and short-term ones, to be submitted to the government and the local institutions (IT0411107F).
Finally, in November, at a time of fierce conflict between the trade union confederations and the government over the renewal of the collective agreement for public sector workers, elections were held for the unitary workplace union structures in 14,000 public administrations (IT0412102N). Two significant features that emerged from the elections were the extremely high turn-out and the clear prevalence of the Cgil, Cisl and Uil trade union confederations in a sector that is characterised by the presence of many independent and autonomous unions.
Industrial action
According to Istat figures, in the period January-September 2004, a total of 412,500 working days were lost due to industrial action (19% fewer than in the corresponding period in 2003). Of these days lost, 39.6% (equal to around 162,500 working days) were due to industrial action over the renewal of collective agreements. Similar levels (150,000 days lost or 34.6% of the total) were recorded for company-level disputes over pay claims and working conditions.
During April and May, a protest by the majority of metalworkers at the Fiat Sata plant in Melfi - and also at external suppliers - progressively paralysed all of the plants of the largest Italian automobile company (IT0405205F). The dispute centred on working time schedules, pay levels and the intensity of work and, after moments of tension even among the trade unions, was solved by an agreement at national level which was approved by a majority of workers in a special referendum. Then, on 5 November, a four-hour strike was held at all Italian Fiat car plants (IT0411305F). This protest, which was the first in more than two years, was called by the main trade union confederations (Fiom-Cgil, Fim-Cisl, Uilm-Uil) and the independent union Fismic-Confsal to contest the new plan for company reorganisation presented by the Fiat Auto chief executive, Herbert Demel.
On 26 March and 30 November 2004, Cgil, Cisl and Uil, held a one-day general strike in protest against the 2005 national budget and reforms of the pensions and tax systems, and to press the government to begin negotiations with the social partners on economic policies to foster growth and employment creation.
Employee participation
There were no significant developments as regards worker participation in company decision-making during 2004. At company level, 2004 saw a restructuring plan for the Alitalia airline company (see above), which defines the rules for the company’s reorganisation and privatisation and provides for the creation of a joint consultation committee charged with the task of monitoring the progress of the business plan in all its phases (IT0410104F).
The plan for financial recovery and reorganisation (see above) announced by one of the largest agro-food groups in the world, Parmalat - now under special administration following an acute financial crisis and judicial inquiries involving the ownership, management and their closest collaborators - also took an important step forward with the signing of an agreement on industrial relations by the sectoral trade unions and the special administrator (IT0411203F). According to this agreement, the parties undertake to conduct regular reviews of the progress of the business plan with particular reference to employment and social protection. The meetings will be held every three months. Moreover, in order to relaunch the group by means of product and process innovations, the administrator and the trade unions have undertaken to hold meetings to examine and negotiate the investment plan for 2005-7.
An agreement signed on 29 January 2004 by the Unitary Federation of Chemicals Workers (Federazione Unitaria Lavoratori Chimici, Fulc) - which brings together the sectoral trade unions affiliated to the three main union confederations (Filcea-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil) - and the sectoral employers’ federation - Federazione Nazionale dell’industria chimica, (Federchimica), affiliated to Confindustria - strengthened collaboration between companies and trade unions by implementing the worldwide Responsible Care programme in the chemicals industry on the basis of a joint approach that enables workers and their representatives to participate actively in actions to improving and assess results (IT0403101N).
There were no significant developments over the year in the area of European Works Councils (EWCs). There are around 80 firms with parent companies or headquarters in Italy that fall within the scope of application of the EU Directive on the creation of EWCs. Of these, only 34, mainly in the metalworking and chemicals sectors, have signed agreements for the creation of EWCs, and since 2002 only two (TN0411101S).
Absence from work
In Italy, absence from work is seen as part of the broader issue of the 'quality' of work and of measures to improve it. Quality in the workplace is of increasing importance in the strategies of companies having to cope with an economic and social environment which has changed profoundly in recent years and is in a state of constant fluctuation. It has been found that one of the best ways to reduce absence is the creation and implementation of measures to assist reconciliation between work and family life.
At present, few measures have been adopted by Italian companies to facilitate work/life balance, However, mention may be made of a number of interesting schemes recently introduced by companies that consist of a mix of measures concerning working time arrangements and telework, company services for families and childcare, allowances and benefits, and specific career-support measures for employees with family commitments. Whatever the motives of these companies for implementing these policies - the pursuit of an ideal of 'corporate social responsibility', maintaining good relations with the local community, or curbing employee turnover and absence- this new attitude signals an important development in labour relations characterised by a focus on issues of working life quality, as well as the greater individualisation of the solutions proposed (IT0306204F).
Psychological harassment
In 2004, national estimates indicate that around 1.5 million workers who are victims of 'mobbing' in Italy. Mobbing is increasingly seen as an issue of particular social importance, which has led to the mobilisation of the social partners and of the main policy makers (IT0402104F).
In Italy, targeted research and studies on mobbing began in the 1990s. According to estimates by national experts, at present, the number of people who are victims of mobbing vary between 4% and 6% of the work force, or between 1 million and 1.5 million workers. However, it seems that these data underestimate the problem, because the percentage does not take into account undeclared labour and 'atypical' work, which could significantly increase those numbers. Mobbing is not a well-known phenomenon and so many workers find it difficult to distinguish between mobbing and conflict situations within the company.
At present, there is no specific legislation on mobbing in Italy. The political parties are developing some legislative proposals at regional and national level. Nine proposals on mobbing prevention have been put forward to the Italian parliament so far.
Trade unions, on the contrary, have been tackling these problems for some time. Trade union actions are mainly in favour of prevention and assistance to victims. Many trade unions have made available, at local, regional and national level, guidance services (sportelli di orientamento) to help mobbing victims. According to the unions, a joint commitment from both the trade unions and the company is needed in order to fight the problem, as well as collective bargaining fostering the dissemination of a culture of personnel policies and relations focused on valuing workers. Some companies have already signed agreements of this kind, for example a public healthcare unit in Florence and the local public transport company (Atm) in Turin. Among the national sectoral collective agreements, the only one that has dealt with mobbing issues is that covering the public administration, which has provided for the creation of a joint committee on the topic (IT0303204F).
New forms of work
'Atypical work' represents an increasingly large proportion of employment in Italy. In the last three years, the number of people on atypical contracts has continued to increase at a rate which - although lower than at the end of the 1990s - is still higher than that of standard employment. A particularly important type of atypical employment consists of so-called 'semi-subordinate work' (midway between dependent employment and self-employment), and 'coordinated freelance workers' (IT0011273F) - otherwise known as 'economically dependent workers' (TN0205101S). This form of employment relationship increased significantly between 1999 and 2003. One of the sources of data on coordinated freelance work is the National Institute of Social Insurance (Istituto nazionale per la previdenza sociale, Inps), which administers a social security scheme set up specifically for semi-subordinate workers. At the end of December 2003, there were some 2.8 million people enrolled on this scheme (IT0404303F), but this figure includes many different types of situations, such as workers who have a different occupation as a main job, members of administrative boards and even people who no longer work as freelancers. The most recent estimates on the actual incidence of coordinated freelance work indicate a total of around 500,000 workers. However, this does not diminish the evident social importance of the problem. These workers have a highly diverse range of jobs: as call centre operators, tourist entertainers, computer consultants, home interviewers, trainers and financial salespeople (IT0308304F).
In early March 2004, trade unions and employers signed a first national agreement regulating coordinated freelance contracts in outsourced call centres (IT0403203F), 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 contract, maternity, sickness, end-of-service allowances and minimum pay.
On 9 June 2004, 21 employers’ associations representing all sectors and the three main trade union confederations - Cgil, Cisl and Uil - signed an interconfederal agreement (IT0407205F) which transposes into Italian law the text of the EU framework agreement on telework concluded on 16 July 2002 (EU0207204F). At present, the agreement covers around 300,000 teleworkers, the majority of them women, who represent 1.6% of the total Italian labour force. According to some estimates, telework is set to increase over the next three years, rising to more than 5% of employment. All the social partners that signed the agreement have expressed their full satisfaction with it. The framework agreement has an impact on the collective agreements already concluded on the matter. There are a number of national industry-wide collective agreements which regulate telework, for example in the retail and services sectors, telecommunications, small and medium-sized enterprises, and the public sector (IT9712218F and IT9908344F).
Between 1993 and 2002, the incidence of part-time work in Italy rose from 5.5% to 8.6%. Among women, those employed on a part-time basis increased from 11.2% (1993) to 17% (2002). By contrast, the percentage of men employed on a part-time basis was 2.5% in 1993 and 3.5% in 2002. In Italy, the percentage of 'non-voluntary' part-time work (which is not a choice but a fall-back solution when full-time employment is impossible to find) is relatively higher than in other EU countries (in 2001, 33.4% compared with the European average of 14.8%).
As regards change from or to this type of employment relationship, neither the legal right to work part time nor the right to change from part time to full time work exist in Italy, even if some collective agreements provide for this in certain circumstances, such as re-entry into the labour market after maternity leave.
Other relevant developments
Recent changes made to the continuing training system can be regarded as marking the beginning of the definition of a new national model. To date, however, the Italian system has been characterised by a low level of institutionalisation. In fact, firms, whose role in this area is of prime importance, are not obliged contractually or legally to invest in training. The recent creation of joint intersectoral funds for training (IT0202103F) has created a new scenario characterised by the direct commitment of the trade unions and the employers’ associations. The social partners are now directly involved in the planning and management of large part of the resources allocated to continuing training, and they direct funding to initiatives that more closely match the real needs of firms and workers.
In July 2004, after two years and seven months of talks, parliament finally approved the 'proxy law' on the reform of the pensions system (IT0303305F and IT0309203F) which allows the government to issue, over 18 months, the implementing legislative decrees to reform the pension systems and to reduce Italy’s pension expenditure by 0.7% of GDP by 2008. The main innovations introduced by the proxy law are on early retirement procedures, the possible payment of the end-of-service allowance (Trattamento di fine rapporto, Tfr) into supplementary pension schemes ,and incentives to encourage all workers fulfilling the requirements for a seniority pension to stay in work. The main innovations introduced are pension entitlement at the age of 60 for those with between 35 and 40 years of contributions (from 1 January 2008 onwards) and a bonus equivalent to 32.7% of pay to those entitled to retire but who decide to stay in work. The pension issue caused profound divisions between the majority and the opposition parties and within the political coalitions themselves. The trade union organisations, on the other hand, have expressed their total disagreement with the reform, which they considered wrong both in terms of timing and content.
On 29 June 2004, six people accused of belonging to the new Red Brigades terrorist group were committed to trial for the murder on 19 March 2002 of Marco Biagi, the labour lawyer and government consultant who inspired the recent law reforming the Italian labour market (IT0307204F). One of the accused has decided to collaborate with the investigations and is now a state witness.
Outlook
2005 may lead to an assessment of, and perhaps important changes in, the Italian industrial relations system, bringing to conclusion processes that began during 2004 in a variety of areas. At legislative level, important progress has been made in implementing reforms, the effects of which it will only be possible to evaluate in the next few years. These include the labour market reforms and the pension reforms.
As regards the social partners, among the significant events of 2004 whose effects will presumably become apparent in 2005 is the appointment of Luca Cordero di Montezemolo as the new president of Confindustria and the consequent change of stance by the largest Italian employers’ association. In the face of permanent difficulties experienced by the Italian economy, Confindustria has proposed new action strategies that require reform of the production system - mainly by means of large investments in research and in the development of infrastructures - and the resumption of constructive dialogue with the trade unions and the government. This new openness to dialogue has been manifested in the 2004 agreement on relaunching the development of the south of Italy.
2004 also saw renewed commitment by the three main trade union confederations (Cgil, Cisl and Uil) to undertake joint initiatives. This commitment has been manifested both in requests to the government to introduce - again on the basis of concertation - policies for development and innovation, and in the recent creation of a single committee to examine reform of the bargaining structure established by the agreement of 23 July 1993 (IT0412306F). Of significance at sectoral level - and also reflecting the renewed willingness by the unions to undertake joint actions - is the agreement reached by Fiom-Cgil, Fim-Cisl and Uilm-Uil to present to employers a single list of claims for renewal of the pay part of the metalworking agreement (IT0412205F). After some months of discussion, and the prospect that the metalworkers' unions would once again present different platforms of demands, the three sectoral trade union federations reached agreement on pay claims, on the union democracy procedures to adopt during bargaining, and on the priorities to be pursued over the next two years (labour market, industrial crisis, and reform of the job classification system). Once the platform has been finally approved, negotiations will begin with the largest employers’ association in the metalworking sector, the Federation of the Italian Metalworking Industry (Federazione sindacale dell’industria metalmeccanica italiana, Federmeccanica), by the end of February 2005.
Amid the apparent stagnation of Italian industry, these events can be interpreted as signalling a renewed commitment by trade unions and employers’ associations to participate with the government in the definition of economic and social policies, which may prove crucial for the Italian economic system to improve its competitiveness. As regards the area of industrial relations proper, it seems that debate on reform of the bargaining structure - with all its attendant difficulties - has returned to the top of the agenda. To this end, the single committee established by the three main trade union confederations will draft a proposal for changes in the bargaining system by mid-2005.
However, both the employers’ associations and the trade unions must be able to reconcile these objectives and ambitions for change with the need to respond to the requirements of ordinary collective bargaining activity. In fact, 2005 will be a year of intense efforts as regards the renewal of sectoral collective agreements: at the beginning of the year almost 6 million workers were awaiting renewal of their agreements (more than 2.5 million in the private sector and around 3.5 million in the public sector). The outcomes of negotiation on these renewals will probably largely determine the evolution of the debate on reform of the bargaining system and the future form of dialogue between the social partners. (Diego Coletto, Fondazione Regionale Pietro Seveso, and Livio Muratore, Ires Lombardia).