Catering, contract renewed: 200 euro increase for one million workers

Catering workers, almost one million, will receive a 200 euro increase. This was established by the renewal of the national collective labour agreement reached by Fipe-Confcommercio, the Italian Federation of Public Establishments, with the category unions, Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs Uil. The renewal agreement was reached not only by the Federation, but also by the co-operatives. Confcooperative Lavoro e Servizi reserved the signature. The agreement came after long negotiations, as the previous one had expired in December 2021.

The negotiations focused mainly on the economic part, for which an increase of EUR 200 was envisaged at full speed, the strengthening of supplementary health care, and a duration of three and a half years, expiring on 31 December 2027.

As Lino Stoppani, president of Fipe Confcommercio, explains, 'the renewal of this contract, which is the third most applied labour contract in our country after the Tertiary Sector and the Metalmechanical Sector, is an important result in view of the imminent start of the summer season. Having signed the contract in this context, after the damage of so many recent emergencies, is a sign of social responsibility, vision, technical competence and courage of all the parties present at the negotiating table'.

The catering contract could now pave the way for all service industry contracts, such as tourism, which have been expired for several years. This is a strategic sector, as Cristian Biasoni, vice-president of Fipe-Confcommercio with responsibility for labour and president of Aigrim, the Association of Multilocalised Large Catering Enterprises, explains: "Italy is the second largest catering market in Europe with an annual value of more than 100 billion euros, a strategic district for the country, because it is included in the food and tourism supply chain, which is worth about 13% of the national GDP. With this contract, the companies, in addition to revitalising a sector that is the pride of our country, commit to pouring more than 5 billion euros into the Italian economy over the next three and a half years'.

In the regulatory part, Fipe and the trade unions decided on a significant revision of the classification and grading of personnel, which had stood still since the 1990s, to make them more responsive to the needs of the market and the new types of offer. Regulations on individual rights of female workers were also strengthened, such as measures to combat violence and harassment in the workplace and leave for women victims of violence.