Secondments and permits for military trade unions arrive
The draft decree law: one secondment for every four thousand staff units and one hour of paid leave per year for every two staff units for representative APCSMs
by Andrea Carli
5' min read
Key points
- Defence 'bridge' circular
- Decree law
- Addressees: professional associations among military personnel of a trade union nature
- More than 6 million to cover union activity among the military
- The reduction of membership fees for the recognition of representativeness at national level
- Funded the multi-state venture capital fund 'NATO Innovation Fund'
- The 2018 Constitutional Court ruling
- Law 46 of 2022
5' min read
Here comes the government decree on trade union postings and permits in the military sphere. The measure, a decree law ('Urgent provisions on trade union associations among the military') was approved by the Council of Ministers on Monday 6 May.
An inter-ministerial decree (by the Minister of Public Administration, in agreement with the Minister of Defence and the Minister of the Economy and Finance), published on 6 April in the Official Gazette, identified the representative associations, which will be able to benefit from detachments and permits. The decree originates from Law 46 of 2022, which, following a ruling by the Constitutional Court, sanctioned the lawfulness of trade union associations for the first time. Before this rule came into force, in fact, the Code of Military Order (COM) did not allow this possibility.
The Defence 'bridging' circular
.In order to guarantee the agility of the leaders of trade union associations, a recent 'bridging' circular of the Ministry of Defence - published on 30 December 2023, which in turn integrates one of 8 July 2022 - has clarified that, pending the measures transposing the trade union agreements, "on an exclusively temporary basis, among the 'serious reasons' referred to in the extraordinary leave, up to a maximum of 45 days per year, it is possible, exclusively to those who are designated as representatives of the professional associations of a trade union nature among the military (the acronym is: 'APCSM') registered in the ministerial roll (there are twenty acronyms that have exceeded the threshold of representativeness required by law, ed.), to include the daily trade union leave in the maximum number of nine days per month. The institute,' we read in that document, 'with regard to a maximum of seven representatives, specifically designated by the general/national secretary of each APCSM registered in the ministerial roll, can be used in addition to the ten hours of leave for participation in the planned assemblies'. The Ministry of Defence clarified that the solutions envisaged in that circular would lapse 'upon the issuance of the aforementioned transposition measures, within the scope of which the maximum quota of permits and secondments provided for by law will be defined'.
Decree Law
arrivesThe 'bridging' circular has a maximum duration of six months, i.e. it will expire in June 2024. Now, just days before that date, comes the government's decree-law. "In view of the first application of the provisions that abrogated the institution of military representations," reads a note published by the government after the Council of Ministers, "the rules are aimed at guaranteeing the participation of the APCSMs in the negotiation procedures pending the first bargaining within which the quota of secondments and permits will be determined.
Addressees: professional associations among military personnel with a trade union character
The aim of the measure is, the draft reads, 'to allow the full performance of trade union activities and participation in the bargaining procedures of the defence-security sector'. In this context, 'are attributed to the associations referred to in Article 1475 et seq. of Legislative Decree No. 66 of 15 March 2010, containing the Code of Military Order, for the year 2024, the detachments and paid leave, referred to in Article 1480, paragraph 3, of the aforementioned code, at the rate of one detachment for every four thousand personnel units and one hour of annual paid leave for every two personnel units'. Therefore, professional associations among military personnel of a trade union nature per individual Armed Force or Police Force (APCSM) are concerned. Only military personnel on actual permanent service may join.
