Representation, contracts and wages: agreement signed between employers and trade unions

Criteria for measuring the representativeness of employers’ organisations and trade unions, together with the rules for defining the framework for collective bargaining. Principles agreed between the social partners on training as a strategic lever for business competitiveness and the quality of work, on the promotion of health and safety in the workplace, and on workers’ participation in the life of the organisation.

These are the main sections of the draft Framework Agreement signed last night at Confindustria between the 13 leading employers’ organisations, together with CGIL, CISL and UIL. With regard to representation and collective bargaining, the parties’ objective is to identify the benchmark collective agreements, signed by employers’ organisations and trade unions that are comparatively more representative at national level (distinguishing by sector of activity and legal form of the enterprise). These reference collective agreements are used to determine the ‘fair wage’, which is the condition for accessing tax and social security relief. To measure employer representation, reference is made to three qualitative criteria – the organisation’s history, membership of European representative organisations recognised within the framework of the European social dialogue or the European Social Committee (ESC), and the presence within its collective bargaining system of forms of supplementary welfare – and one quantitative criterion (the coverage of workers to whom the national collective labour agreement applies, based on the ATECO classification). Trade union representation is measured by a combination of membership numbers and votes cast in elections for trade union representatives.

The draft agreement bearing the signatures of Confindustria, Agci, Casartigiani, Claai, Cna, Confapi, Confartigianato, Confcommercio, Confcooperative, Confesercenti, Confetra, Confservizi and Legacoop, together with CGIL, CISL and UIL, aim to promote the expansion of worker representation in the workplace, providing for the transition from RSA to RSU should this be decided by organisations representing 50%+1 of the sector at national level (or 30%+1 of the company’s workforce). Among the areas of application, the parties are committed, within their respective national collective agreements, not to implement improper extensions of the scope of the agreements. A two-tier contractual structure – national and decentralised – is confirmed, with the definition of the minimum remuneration (TEM, minimum pay scales, contingency allowances, EDR) and total remuneration (Tec, comprising Tem and all fixed and ongoing remuneration items – direct, indirect and deferred – as defined by the National Collective Agreements, including allowances, welfare benefits and fixed remuneration elements paid to all employees under second-level bargaining in accordance with the National Collective Agreement).

In the draft under discussion, the parties agree on the principle that continuity in the negotiation cycles improves competitiveness and safeguards the purchasing power of wages. To ensure that negotiations to renew expired national collective agreements begin on time, two deadlines have been set: renewal proposals must be submitted by the parties at least six months before the contract expires, and a response must be given within 30 days. Compliance with this timetable is a condition for the payment of an allowance that is higher than that introduced by the 1 May Decree as an advance payment for expired contracts: the draft refers to the payment of a provisional remuneration component equal to 30 per cent of the IPCA rate following a three-month contractual gap from the expiry of the National Collective Labour Agreement, rising to 50 per cent after six months and reaching 90 per cent after nine months. Provision is made for a periodic review, whilst the contract is in force, of the inflation-linked adjustment of the Tem. To prevent dumping, it is stipulated that the pay and regulatory terms of the relevant National Collective Labour Agreement (CCNL) for a sector, and based on the legal form of the undertaking, may not be amended to the detriment of employees.

Daniela Fumarola, General Secretary of CISL, speaks of a ‘founding agreement, in the tradition of the major inter-confederal agreements that have marked the history of the Republic’. It was drawn up by trade unions and businesses entirely independently, following lengthy and at times acrimonious discussions between different worlds. Whilst Italy remains divided on every issue, the world of labour and business have established serious and enforceable rules for themselves. It is an act of responsibility towards the country. Pierpaolo Bombardieri, General Secretary of UIL, emphasises the importance of “a historic agreement, following one of the longest and most difficult rounds of negotiations in trade union history, destined to revolutionise the system of industrial relations: the foundations have been laid to generate wage growth and to dismantle ‘pirate’ contracts’.