Solidarity agreement signed in Lecco

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In March 2004, employers' organisations and trade unions in the province of Lecco in Northern Italy signed an innovative agreement with a local foundation, aimed at promoting social solidarity initiatives. Workers and companies will contribute, on a voluntary basis, to a new fund to finance local solidarity measures organised by the foundation and chosen by unions and employers' organisations.

On 31 March 2004, an agreement entitled 'solidaristic and responsible workers and companies' (Lavoratori aziende solidali e responsabili, Laser) was concluded in the province of Lecco (Lombardy), aimed at supporting social solidarity projects and initiatives at local level. The signatories were the Foundation of the Lecco Province (Fondazione della provincia di Lecco Onlus), five employers' organisations and the local organisations of the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil), the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacato Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil). The Foundation of the Lecco Province is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1999 with the aim of promoting donations to fund social solidarity measures in the province and achieving successful and effective growth in the not-for-profit sector.

The agreement provides for employers and workers to donate money to causes and schemes aimed at improving social solidarity. It is particularly innovative as it provides for a standing scheme for such donations, and for regular negotiations over the issue, rather than dealing in a piecemeal way with situations and needs arising. The Foundation will manage and allocate the resources and act as the operational centre, while trade unions and employers' organisations will gather the funds and decide on their use.

The Laser scheme will work as follows:

• before 30 June each year, the Foundation will identify a number of important local social issues and needs. The signatory trade union and employers' organisations will choose which interventions to fund among those identified by the Foundation;
• once the relevant initiatives are identified the trade union organisations will inform workers, who will be able to decide, on a voluntary basis, whether to allocate one hour of their pay per year to their realisation;
• workers' contributions will be collected in a special solidarity fund, which will be established by the trade union organisations under the auspices of the Foundation;
• the employers' organisations will be responsible for informing companies about the initiatives chosen and for seeking to collect from companies the same amount as collected by the trade unions form workers. The company contributions will be collected in solidarity fund established by the employers' organisations under the auspices of the Foundation;
• the Foundation will be able to add to the sum collected in the two solidarity funds through its own fund-raising activities;
• the trade unions and the employers' associations will decide on the amount of money to withdraw from the funds in order to carry out the interventions identified;
• the Foundation will demonstrate to all the partners how the funds will be used and monitor the results obtained; and
• the partners will meet before 31 December 2005 to assess the success of the interventions funded and the results obtained.

According to Mario Sangiorgio, president of the Lecco construction industry association (Associazione costruttori edili), this initiative 'shows that it possible to organise solidarity actions at local level in order to meet in a positive and concrete manner urgent social needs'. Carlo Spreafico, the general secretary of Cisl's Lecco section, said that 'the agreement represents a qualitative step forward in approaching and funding local social projects.'