Budget sickness, parliamentary committee ready for trade union hearing

The phenomenon of budget sickness could soon be back under the lens of Parliament. Launching the proposal was Pierantonio Zanettin, a Forza Italia senator and chairman of the parliamentary commission of enquiry into the banking, financial and insurance system.

'If there are particularly serious situations, we can devote a Commission session to the subject of commercial pressure,' he explained during the live television broadcast on Sole 246 channel. 'I am always willing to listen to trade union representatives. We already heard them at the beginning of the Commission of Inquiry'. Moreover, Zanettin added that on this issue we need to reach 'a point of balance because obviously on the one hand companies need to achieve their goals. At the same time, on the other hand, it is necessary to consider that for bank employees there are considerable risks of work-related stress'.

The same TV programme was also attended by Lando Sileoni, secretary general of the Fabi union, the most representative among bank employees. Sileoni had already in the past been among the promoters of initiatives before the Commission of Inquiry precisely on the subject of budget sickness. This time, however, he goes further by taking an even tougher stance. 'I believe that by now there has been too much talk and not enough action on the issue of commercial pressure,' said Sileoni. 'As the English say, now there is a need for 'action'. Perhaps the time has come to call a general strike precisely to highlight a situation, that of commercial pressure, which has unfortunately become customary in the sector and which is no longer just a trade union issue but has become a social issue'.

It must be remembered, however, that in recent years agreements have been signed between banking unions and ABI precisely to curb the phenomenon of budget sickness. In the latest collective agreement, that of 23 November 2023, the national agreement of 8 February 2017 on commercial policies and work organisation was even incorporated (in Article 58). A formal commitment on everyone's part. Sileoni, during the live TV broadcast, emphasised that that agreement on commercial policies included in the national contract 'has had no result'. "The situation is different for the agreements signed in some banking groups where some results have been obtained," said the Fabi leader.

Among the instruments created by the agreements, there are the commissions on commercial policies created at the level of banking groups; then there is also the commission envisaged at the national level. It is not all to be thrown out according to Giuseppe Bilanzuoli, national secretary of the banking union Uilca: 'The situation is quite complex. In some banking groups the commissions work, they analyse the reports and take action. In other commissions this is not the case: there are few reports and the debate does not take off. For this reason, the union's goal with the new collective agreement platform is to make these initiatives more homogeneous at the national level'.