Work

Fashion, blue overalls, construction, logistics to test contract renewal in autumn

Industry is more punctual in renewals: for 90 per cent of employees, new contracts within physiological timeframes. Average long lead times for the service sector, craftsmen and public sector slow down wage recovery

by Cristina Casadei

9 September 2024

7' min read

7' min read

Textiles, clothing and fashion, metalworking, logistics, construction. The end of summer will coincide with the resumption of negotiations for some of the most important national collective labour agreements in industry in terms of number of employees. The textile industry, which, after the recent agreement of the shoe industry, would close the renewals of the fashion galaxy, are at an advanced stage, but the parties (Smi and Filctem, Femca and Uiltec) have not yet gone into the details of the 270 euro increase requested by the unions for the 370,000 employees. In the case of the metal industry (1.5 million workers), the economic demand of EUR 280, made by the unions (Fiom, Fim and Uilm) to Federmeccanica and Assistal, for the period 2024-2027, is taking the negotiations on a steep climb, after the increase of the last renewal (2021-2024), which was dragged up to almost EUR 311 by the inflationary flare-up and the ex post adjustment. Negotiations have also recently started in the logistics sector, where increases of 18% (or around EUR 300) are being demanded, and in the construction sector, where the demand is for EUR 275. Both contracts affect about one million employees. On the other hand, negotiations are still open for the renewal of the private hospital (Aiop and Aris, the one for non-medics expired in 2018, the one for doctors in 2023), the tourism industry (Federturismo, Confindustria Alberghi), expired in 2018, and Federterme, expired in 2022. Just as open is the renewal of the telecommunications contract (Asstel), which concerns more than 200,000 people and expires at the end of 2022. At the end of the year the multiservice contract (Anip) will expire, which concerns almost one million people and had provided for a tranche of increases in 2025. This is a contract with a wide scope that in this renewal could see the possible inclusion of collective catering, which belongs to Anir and Angem, after they disengaged from Fipe Confcommercio in the renewal. In the services sector, for many reasons, there is an obvious attraction towards the confindustrial world. An enlargement of the contractual perimeters in various areas, especially in services, would also allow a significant advance on contractual welfare.

LE TEMPISTICHE DEI CONTRATTI DELL’INDUSTRIA

The timing of renewals

Statistics, from the OECD to Istat, tell us that wages of employees are growing. Not always and not all in the same way, however, also due to the timing of contract renewals. Referring to the ISTAT data, the average waiting time for renewal in June 2024 was 27.3 months, two years and three months, therefore, down by two months from 29.2 in June 2023, mainly due to the effect of renewals in the service sector, which expired almost five years ago. Should the contractual model be rethought? According to Tiziana Bocchi, confederal secretary of Uil, 'undoubtedly yes. It is clear,' says the trade unionist, 'that there are sectors that do not respect the timetable. And it is not a marginal issue that concerns niches or a few workers. Let's think of trade, which has indeed renewed contracts, but we cannot forget after how many years. The same goes for handicrafts. It is clear that when contracts are renewed many years after their expiry, with a two-year period in between in which there was the highest inflation since the 1990s, the loss of purchasing power is there and remains because the wage bill is not recovered. That is why the wage certainly remains central, although there is also a lot of focus on welfare and skills'. The delay in renewals does not help the recovery of workers' purchasing power and gives a distorted overall picture.

The industry's punctuality

Industry appears more punctual in renewals. If we take the figures for employees to whom one of the Confindustria system employment contracts applies, it emerges that there are 5.8 million. At the end of July, 1.85 million, or 32 per cent, one in three, had an employment contract in force. For 730,000 of these, the contract will expire by the end of 2024. On the other hand, 3.2 million (55 per cent of the total) were workers with contracts that had recently expired, but not more than 12 months. Overall, almost 90 per cent of workers have a contract that will be renewed within a physiological timeframe. The longest delays, exceeding 24 months, affect less than 600,000 workers, 10.3 per cent of the total. Completing the picture with ISTAT data considering the entire economy, at the end of June, the 41 national collective agreements in force for the economic part concerned 64% of employees, i.e. approximately 8.4 million. The contracts awaiting renewal number 34 and involve approximately 4.7 million employees (36% of the total).

Wage growth

'Certainly in industry, there were discussions in the negotiations, but then in the end the balance was found, almost always within a reasonable timeframe. We have been coming from four years in which contracts have been renewed in compliance with the rules,' interprets the Director of the labour, welfare and human capital area of Confindustria, Pierangelo Albini. 'If we take comparative studies, the manufacturing industry has performed well over the last 20 years and has increased wages by 20 per cent. These assessments are also contained in OECD studies'. Confirmation of this trend also comes from the latest Istat data, according to which the highest wage increase is in the industrial sector. In services, it was credit that led the way after the record increase of EUR 435. In the public sector, wage growth is slowing down.

Flat average trend

In our country, however, on average, wages are flat. 'This is an objective fact,' continues Albini, 'but only if we consider the overall average of the entire mass of wages in employment, from industry to agriculture, commerce, crafts, and the civil service. If we look at the cross-section, however, something else emerges. The Italian manufacturing industry in the last 20 years has recognised wage increases in line with Spain, Germany and France, despite productivity being half that of these countries'. So why does wage growth look flat? It is the effect of the general average in which the civil service, which renews contracts three years after their expiry date and by the time they come up for renewal the next contract has already expired, but also sectors such as handicrafts or trade and commerce: in the latter case we are talking about 5.6 million workers who have had significant delays in renewals and therefore wages that have been stagnant for up to five years.

References

'When renewing contracts you have to think about the industrial destiny of the sector to which they refer. So think with a long time horizon, accompany transitions by looking at what work will be like in 10 years, not 10 days,' says Albini. The references that are present in industry today remain unchanged and allow this effort to be made: the Consolidation Act on representation and the factory pact. 'In our country, up to now, all wage determination has been the result of collective bargaining,' adds Albini. 'The fact that there is talk of a minimum wage must make us think that collective bargaining has become much less effective than in the past. The intervention of the judiciary in the security sector was emblematic. We need forward-looking and prospective bargaining that addresses the major welfare issues and therefore cannot fail to take into account at least one other issue: the unfavourable demographic curve. "We need to create a wide-ranging protection system, public and private, that takes care of people not only when they are at the peak of productivity, but with a long time horizon,' reasons Albini. 'The construction of a private welfare that far from replacing, if anything, complements the public one, is part of the tasks of collective bargaining and not only because it can also support attractive labour supply strategies. In order to build supplementary healthcare, complementary pensions, long term care for non-self-sufficiency, we cannot reason as in the past with the logic of small towers in each contract, we must build a larger system of mutuality also to have greater strength and more solid solutions in collaboration with banks and insurance companies'.

The difficult union matches

On bargaining, the difficult game of representation and participation will be played out for the unions in the autumn. And of greater adherence to the framework of the rules, including those concerning timing. However, the wage issue remains at the centre, confirms Mattia Pirulli, national secretary of the CISL: 'The data tell us of a positive trend in terms of wage recovery, as the OECD has also certified these days for the first quarter of 2024. But the issue is not completely resolved as there are millions of workers waiting for their contracts to be renewed. Wages continue to be important, but bargaining is also important in the growth of the country and the management of change. That is why there must be no defensive logic. Bargaining must recover purchasing power and, also through participation, distribute a share of the wealth produced to workers'. For Pirulli, this issue is also central thanks to the CISL bill, currently being debated in the Chamber of Deputies, because 'it puts the worker at the centre of company life as opposed to market logic alone. Participation can be economic, financial, organisational, as is already being discussed in some important contracts. The presence of a workers' representative on the board of directors is one aspect but not the most important in our proposal. There is the presence in advisory committees for safety, redistribution of company profits, economic and organisational participation'.

Representation

In the renewal of collective agreements, issues are being raised that are very much linked to the evolution of our society, from technological advancement with artificial intelligence at the forefront, to the demographic winter, which, when declined in bargaining, drags with it welfare and skills. The knot of knots, however, will hit the tables in September and it is representation. 'To put a stop to the proliferation of pirate contracts,' says Bocchi, 'we need a law to support the single text, also providing for the extension of the obligation to elect the Rsu in those realities where there are at least five workers. Article 39 of the Constitution would then have to be implemented, so that concluded contracts would have erga omnes effect. Let's be clear, I mean a very streamlined supporting law that somehow forces ourselves and our counterparts to measure up'. Uil, as an organisation, had already asked and, Bocchi assures, 'will ask to resume a path of unitary confrontation to set up the Management Committee that the agreement on the Consolidation Act envisaged and that we need to make public the certification data of the members collected so far. There are some industry sectors where certification has already been taking place for three years, such as pharmaceutical chemicals and metalworking, which can lead the way. At the same time our counterparts could begin to identify their own criteria for measuring representation. This is an essential issue that would help to clarify what the reference contracts should be'.