Service sector contracts: the difficult path towards a single employers’ negotiating body

Following the presentation of the trade union platform for the renewal of the national collective agreement for the service sector, the sectoral trade unions – Filcams, Fisascat and Uiltucs – have called for a joint meeting with all employers’ organisations, from Federdistribuzione to Confcommercio, and from the Co-operatives to Confesercenti. The dates proposed in the letter sent are 10 and 11 November: a swift start to negotiations for the three unions would enable the negotiations to be concluded by the contract’s expiry date, at the start of 2027. Among the demands set out in the platform presented at the end of September is an average pay rise of 220 euros once fully implemented.

The trade union’s most ambitious goal, however, is not the timetable, but to bring together around the same table all the employers’ organisations, which represent a wide range of interests: from small retailers to multinational modern and organised retail chains and cooperatives. The diversity of the organisations represented means their contractual needs also vary, and it is precisely this that has always led to negotiations taking place at separate tables. Given the widespread use of the service sector collective agreement – the most important in the private sector, covering nearly 3 million workers – the trade unions believe the time has come to provide solutions that ensure greater consistency in working conditions, pay and protections for all.