Tertiary sector, lower wages down by up to 40% from contracts

Structural differences affect in particular the presence of the fourteenth month, the overall level of the minimum wage and, consequently, the social security tax base and the theoretical pension contribution. A further critical issue concerns professional grading: the assimilation of figures traditionally placed at different levels in leading contracts may lead to significant effects, in a worsening sense for workers, on the economic and regulatory level. It should be noted that on 10 March last the Anpit-Cisal system renewed the Ccnl for tourism and public establishments, but from the findings of the authors of the study 'the picture does not change, the gaps remain and the impact is minimal'.

Let's take a pastry assistant, with the total fixed components the annual remuneration is 21,614 euros with the leading contract of the Confcommercio Fipe system (level 5), compared to 15,394 euros of the 'minor' contract for the same level (D2), with a difference of 6,220 euros (+40.4%). The gap is linked to the incidence of the fourteenth month and the overall level of fixed pay, then add the difference on the regulatory part, because the Ccnl of the Confcommercio system provides, on average, greater protection on Rol and leave, sickness/accident supplements, overtime, contractual welfare, and longer notice in high seniority, while that of the Anpit-Cisal system has elements of greater organisational flexibility and a more extensible progressive comporto. The contribution base for pension purposes shows a difference of EUR 2,052 in favour of the leading contract.

Let us move on to another figure, that of the specialised butcher: in this case the difference between the global annual remuneration of the leading contract and the lesser one is 5,572 euros (27,745 euros against 22,173 euros) with a deviation of 25.1%. Also in this case on the regulatory side, the Cnel study shows that the difference is determined by the incidence of the 14th month's pay and the overall level of the fixed pay of the Ccnl. Not only that. On the regulatory side, the Ccnl of the Confcommercio-Fipe system provides, on average, greater protection with regard to: permits and Rol, economic sickness/accident coverage, length of the probationary period, part-time and overtime increases, contractual welfare and more structured complementary social security. The Anpit Cisal one has more organisational flexibility and an extensible comportment, but these elements 'do not compensate for the differences in the main protections'. The difference in pay has an effect on the contribution amount for pension purposes, which has a gap of 1,838 euros to the advantage of the Fipe Ccnl.

Moving on to a hotel waiter, the Ccnl Confcommercio Federalberghi provides for 21,804 euro (level 5) compared to 16,909 euro in the Ccnl Anpit Cisal (for level d1) with a difference of 4,895 euro, and a deviation of 28.9%. That has repercussions on the annual contribution for pension purposes, which has a gap of EUR 1,615. On the regulatory side, the 'leader' contract provides, on average, more protection in terms of hourly reduction and more protected overtime leave, length of the probationary period, sick pay, and structured sectoral welfare. The 'lesser' contract offers more organisational flexibility and an extensible severance package, but again these elements 'do not compensate for the differences on the leading protections'.

For a restaurant waiter the difference is EUR 4,714, or 25.6 per cent, again the regulatory institutions are more advantageous in the Fipe collective agreement (leave, overtime, sick pay, welfare), and there is a difference of EUR 1,556 in the annual pension contribution.

"This work of analysis is important for at least three reasons," Professor Tiraboschi explains, "the first is that up to now there has been a lot of comparative research, but this is the first study by a public institution to which, moreover, the law expressly assigns the power to order surveys, even of a sample nature, on wages and working conditions in the private sector. The second is that the researchers could use parameters decided arbitrarily, in this case legal parameters provided for by the Public Contracts Code are used. The third is that these findings are for the benefit of institutions, social partners and the 4,500 contracting stations to draw their own assessments of contract equivalence and wage dumping in the service sector'.

As is well known, the president of the Cnel, Renato Brunetta, has promoted the reorganisation of the National Archive of Contracts to 'clean up' the large number of collective bargaining agreements signed by unrepresentative associations, with a derisory application, which often provide worse conditions for workers. Even in the tertiary market there has been a proliferation over the years of collective bargaining agreements deposited in the Cnel archives, the vast majority with a residual field of application: they have risen from 26 (1995) to 37 (2005), to 112 (2015) up to the 263 recorded on 31 December 2025 (25% of the current collective bargaining agreements in the private sector present in the archives) referring to a total of 5,272,680 workers and 879,448 companies. 'This proliferation of contracts,' adds Tiraboschi, 'that have a totally residual application is probably linked to the fact that once the Ccnl has been deposited in the Cnel archive, the signatories ask Inps and Inail for the codes to collect contributions in favour of patronages and bilateral bodies, which represent an important source of revenue.

Precisely in order to send a signal to the government, the most representative employer associations (Federturismo Confindustria, Fipe Confcommercio, Assoturismo Confesercenti, Federalberghi ...) sent a letter, deserting the 17 March round table at the Ministry of Enterprise where a large number of micro-organisations had been convened, threatening not to present themselves at the Ministry of Labour at the 9 April meeting on seasonal work if unrepresentative organisations practising contractual dumping were also convened.