The work package launched by the government: from incentives to the fair wage

On the social security front, the possibility for workers to leave seven years early through isopension, the redundancy scheme for companies with at least 15 employees with surplus staff, is extended for another three years, until 2029.

Failure to renew collective agreements within twelve months of their natural expiry triggers an automatic adjustment of wages, by way of a lump-sum advance, equal to 30% of the HICP (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices), subject, however, to different contractual agreements. With the Labour Decree, the government intervenes on the issue of collective bargaining in the private sector, directly affecting the mechanisms regulating negotiations between the social partners. Having ascertained that delays in contract renewals have an impact on the loss of purchasing power of wages, the draft of the measure that has entered the council of ministers introduces a series of disincentives to push the parties to conclude negotiations on time. Sectors characterised by high seasonality and variability of revenues - starting with tourism - are exempted, for which the adjustment is linked to sectoral economic indicators identified by collective bargaining.

In order to encourage the renewal of collective bargaining agreements and to ensure continuity in the economic protection of workers, it is provided that the parties, in the exercise of their contractual autonomy, shall regulate at the time of renewal the starting dates of salary increases, any one-off amounts, and the means of economic coverage of the period between the expiry and renewal, taking as a reference the date of natural expiry of the previous contract. Among the disincentives to protracted negotiations, it is also provided that the contractual assistance contribution, that sum with which the employer covers the activities of the trade unions that are signatories to the contract, cannot be recognised after twelve months from the natural expiry date of the contract. These provisions apply to collective bargaining agreements that expire after the entry into force of the decree. Whereas for already expired collective bargaining agreements, these measures apply as of 1 January 2027.

Bargaining is identified by the decree as the tool to ensure a fair wage for workers, in line with Article 36 of the Constitution. To access the benefits envisaged by the Decree, the employer must apply the Overall Economic Treatment (TEC) defined by the collective bargaining agreements (Ccnl) stipulated by the employers' and workers' organisations that are comparatively more representative on a national level - the so-called leader contracts - 'having regard to the reference productive sector and category, as well as to the main or prevalent activity exercised, to the size and legal nature of the employer'. Therefore, not the tabular minimums, but the TEC, which also includes allowances, superminimums and welfare.

The collective bargaining agreements of the smaller unions may not be lower than the collective bargaining agreements of the leading unions. Even in sectors not covered by collective bargaining, the TEC cannot be lower than that of the leading collective bargaining agreements. The unique alphanumeric code relative to the applied collective bargaining agreement, indicated in the compulsory communications, is used by the Ministry of Labour, the National Labour Inspectorate, Inps, and Cnel also to identify any deviations of economic and normative treatments from the fair wage, for the verification of the prerequisites for access to bonuses, and the analysis of contractual dumping phenomena.

'Support for labour,' commented Labour Minister Marina Calderone, 'rests on supporting quality collective bargaining.