200 euro increase for the 34,000 goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellery workers

The 34,000 goldsmith, silversmith, and jewellery workers will have an average increase on minimum wages of 200 euro, more generous welfare, and greater protection, especially contractual and on health and safety. Just to mention one of the novelties, in production units with more than 200 employees, the obligation of health and safety training breaks has been included, and the reporting of near-accidents has been envisaged in all companies. These are some of the issues shared by Confindustria-Federorafi and the trade unions (Fiom, Fim and Uilm) in the hypothesis of an agreement for the renewal of the national collective contract for goldsmiths and silversmiths, reached in Milan.

For the President of Federorafi, Maria Cristina Squarcialupi, it is "a balanced agreement and, above all, capable of guaranteeing, within the company, stability and peace of mind to entrepreneurs and their collaborators in order to face an extremely delicate moment because the precious metals sector, in addition to the economic situation that has been affecting manufacturing in general for months, adds as an element of instability the continuous records and high volatility of the quotations of precious metals, with gold and silver at the top". The most recent elaborations by the Centro Studi Confindustria Federorafi, on official Istat data, adds Squarcialupi, "already register for the first 10 months of 2025 an important contraction of -17.3% in exports, which represent almost 90% of turnover, and this year we have no signs of a reversal of the trend".

Mirco Rota, in a Fiom note, calculates that 'the agreement provides for an increase in monthly pay of 10.51 per cent compared to an Ipca-Nei index, which is expected to increase by 7.2 per cent over the contract period (2025-2028). On the minimums this translates into an increase of 200 euros at the fifth level, or 58.26 euros in addition to the Ipca-Nei schedule for the next three years". Fim Cisl general secretary Ferdinando Uliano and national secretary Massimiliano Nobis explain that the renewal "is the result of complex negotiations, conducted in an economic context strongly conditioned by the increase in the cost of gold. The agreement makes it possible to renew a strategic contract for a manufacturing sector with a high export vocation'.

The contract had expired at the end of 2024 for both the regulatory and economic part, and the renewal also recovers the purchasing power lost by the workers due to the inflationary flare-up that could not be foreseen when the previous renewal was signed, which took place in 2021 with an increase of EUR 99.

Pay improvements also include a 10% increase, as of 1 June 2026, on night work and a welfare increase from EUR 200 to EUR 220 as of 1 June 2028, as well as a 50% holiday supplement.