Metalworkers, break at the table for contract renewal: there will be strike
Fiom-Cgil, Fim-Cisl and Uilm proclaimed 8 hours of strike, demanding an increase of 280 euro for the three-year period 2024-2027 considered unsustainable by Federmeccanica and Assistal
3' min read
3' min read
There was a break at the table for the renewal of the national contract for metalworkers, which affects around 1.6 million workers: the announcement came from Fiom-Cgil, Fim-Cisl and Uilm, which rejected the proposal formulated by Federmeccanica and Assistal on 10 October as an alternative to the union platform. The unions have jointly proclaimed an eight-hour national strike on a territorial basis to be held starting next week. Unitary assemblies will be organised in all workplaces to involve the workers.
Two different approaches: the knot of economic increases
On the economic part at the table there was a stalemate, because in front of the unitary platform of Fiom, Fim and Uilm, which provides for an increase in minimum wages of 280 euros over the next three years, considered unsustainable by Federmeccanica and Assistal, who expressed their willingness to automatically adjust the minimum wage to the reference indicator, the Ipca Nei (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, net of imported energy goods), which on the basis of the estimates available to date over the next four years will be 173 euros.
It is precisely the two different approaches that emerged at the negotiating table that led to this break. Fiom, Fim, and Uilm are moving in the traditional groove of contractual renewals that aim at monetisation; the platform presented last May is focused mainly on the increase of 280 euros (at the C3 level) of the minimum wage in the three-year period 2024-27, with a request for an increase to 700 euros of the annual amount of the equalisation element for workers in companies where there is no performance bonus.
The position of enterprises
.While on the part of the employers' associations there is an unwillingness to recognise values higher than the Ipca Nei parameter on the subject of wages, having as the centre of gravity of their proposal for the renewal of the national ESG contract for the 2024-2028 term the increase in performance and services. Federmeccanica explained that with the ex post adjustment of the minimum wage to the Ipca Nei on the basis of available estimates, the total increase would be 173.37 euro in the period 2025-2028. In addition, other benefits are envisaged which, in total, if certain conditions of the various institutes are met, could result in up to approximately EUR 6,510 gross intended as salary mass at the C3 level in the period 2025-2028 (the figure over the four-year period is the sum of the change in the minimums on the pay scale, the economic element linked to company profitability and the new seniority steps).
At the negotiating table, Federmeccanica and Assistal emphasised that with flexible benefits, employees will be able to receive an additional EUR 500 net in the period 2025-2028. Moreover, with insurance for non-self-sufficiency, there is coverage that - the companies pointed out - would cost the individual a total of between 12,000 and 14,000 euros (from 2026 the proposal is to introduce free insurance coverage to guarantee a life-long net annuity of 600 euros in the event of non-self-sufficiency). Federmeccanica and Assistal have also highlighted the increase in contributions to complementary social security (the contribution to be borne by the company rises from 2% to 2.2% so far only for under-35s and for new members to 2.5%) and the improvement in benefits for supplementary health care for the weaker groups. Thus, the potential economic benefit, in the calculations provided by Federmeccanica and Assistal, may reach 7,010 over the four-year period.
