The protest

Justice Bill: trade unions threaten to withdraw from the National Collective Bargaining Agreement on occupational groups

Unsa Confsal, Cisl Fp, Confintesa Fp, Uilfp Giustizia and Flp have written to Nordio asking for a round-table discussion to be convened

by Pietro Menzani

10 June 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

A request for a meeting

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

For the trade unions, the provisions of the justice-related decree-law approved by the Council of Ministers constitute “a very serious attack on the collective bargaining system and, with it, on trade union democracy”. In a joint statement addressed to the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio and Deputy Minister Paolo Sisto, Unsa Confsal, Cisl Fp, Confintesa Fp, Uilfp Giustizia and Flp have called for the urgent convening of a round-table discussion, threatening to withdraw their endorsement of the CCNI on professional categories dated 29 April 2026.

The dispute stems from statements made by Deputy Minister Sisto, who, as stated in the press release, claimed that the decree would assign staff from the Trial Office to work in direct collaboration with magistrates ‘except in cases of urgent and proven necessity’ and would introduce a three-month extension for staff who are not on permanent contracts or who have failed an aptitude test, assigning them to the specialist immigration sections. The trade unions state that they consider these changes to be extremely serious “in terms of substance and, even more so, in terms of method”.

Criticism of the substance

From a substantive point of view, according to the trade unions, ‘the legislative definition of the duties of UPP staff contradicts the current regulatory and contractual framework, which already outlines that role: Legislative Decree 151/2022, the CCNI on occupational groups of 29 April 2026 and the Dog circular of 21 December 2021. When the CCNI was signed, reservations and concerns had been raised regarding the scope of duties: these have now been confirmed in full’.

Unsa Confsal, Cisl Fp, Confintesa Fp, Uilfp Giustizia and Flp go on to explain that «the clause ‘except in cases of urgent and proven necessity’ risks, moreover, reopening the door to the widespread use of temporary staff in court clerical duties, overturning the commitment – publicly undertaken by the Deputy Minister himself on 29 April – to use them ‘only as a last resort and where strictly necessary’'.

As for non-permanent staff, however, the trade unions argue that deploying these workers ‘as support staff for the immigration clearance units, with an extension of just three months, is not a solution: it amounts to using experienced professionals as stopgaps for a role different from the one for which they were recruited and trained, instead of the structural permanent positions that the Government itself claims it wishes to pursue ‘over time’. This prospect cannot remain a mere statement: it must be translated into action’.

Problems with the method

As regards the method, the trade unions state that ‘On 29 April 2026, at this Ministry, the undersigned trade unions signed the CCNI extract defining the professional categories and their respective responsibilities, in implementation of Article 18 of the 2019–2021 National Collective Labour Agreement for Central Government Functions. To define today, by decree-law, the duties and professional classification of UPP staff amounts to intervening, unilaterally and legislatively, on the very matter that agreement regulated contractually, thereby rendering it meaningless and removing it from the supplementary bargaining process to which it belongs’.

According to industry organisations, this constitutes ‘a serious blow to collective bargaining and industrial relations: an agreement is signed, and just a few weeks later, it is circumvented by legislation’.

A request for a meeting

For this very reason, should the method and content of the decree be confirmed, the trade unions ‘will withdraw their endorsement of the National Collective Agreement on Professional Categories of 29 April 2026, as they cannot remain party to an agreement that has simultaneously been rendered meaningless by legislation’.

The result, as explained by Unsa Confsal, Cisl Fp, Confintesa Fp, Uilfp Giustizia and Flp, would be ‘the abolition of the professional categories relating to the Upp role and, with it, the impossibility of proceeding with the relevant recruitment, the repercussions on staffing levels, as well as any further effects, including those of a financial and accounting nature, connected with this circumstance’.