Tertiary sector, so each worker loses 8,000 euro a year in income due to pirate contracts
Confcommercio's denunciation of the phenomenon of contractual dumping: in the tertiary sector contracts signed by smaller organisations, overtime payments, sick pay, seniority bonuses, and contributions to bilaterality penalise workers up to peaks of EUR 12,000 per year
Key points
- Over 200 collective bargaining agreements for 160,000 employees and 21,000 companies have worse conditions
- In the South, the phenomenon is more widespread, in Calabria it concerns 11% of employees in the sector
- Sangalli: strengthen cooperation with trade unions, more government attention needed
- Gardini: we are ready to collaborate
A net loss for the worker of up to around 8,000 euro per year - with peaks of around 12,000 euro - from the application of so-called pirate contracts.
The estimate of the Confcommercio Studies Office is the result of a comparison with contracts signed by minor unions in the tertiary and tourism sectors, which compared to a Ral of 24,613 euro of the Confcommercio collective bargaining agreement have an average gross annual remuneration that is more than 6,500 euro lower. If we then monetise other contractual institutes such as overtime increases, reduced sickness or accident supplements (20-25% against 100% in the Confcommercio contract), fewer former holidays, holidays, permits, seniority increments, bilaterality contributions for supplementary health care or supplementary social security, the average penalty rises to EUR 7,921 to the detriment of the worker with peaks of up to EUR 12,200 per year.
More than 200 collective bargaining agreements for 160,000 employees and 21,000 companies have worse conditions
In the tertiary and tourism sectors, there are more than 250 contracts, but the majority of workers are covered by a few Ccnl, including the Ccnl Terziario, Distribuzione e Servizi signed by Confcommercio, which is the most applied in Italy with about 2.5 million employees. The Ccnlc signed by minor unions are more than 200 and cover about 160 thousand employees and more than 21 thousand companies.
Multiplying the EUR 7,921 lost by workers by the 156,262 employees covered by less protective contracts, we obtain a lower payroll of about EUR 1.3 billion, 0.1% of GDP in 2024 and 0.2% of the payroll with a lower contribution revenue of EUR 339 million - which penalises workers when they retire - and a lower tax revenue of EUR 214 million. The total revenue shortfall amounts to EUR 553 million.
In the South the phenomenon is more widespread, in Calabria it concerns 11% of employees in the sector
."The phenomenon, which is constantly growing, especially among micro-businesses and cooperatives, is particularly widespread in the tertiary sector, in some service sectors, and in tourism," explains Confcommercio, "strategic sectors for the economy, creating territorial imbalances because it is concentrated in the most economically fragile areas, especially in southern Italy. The most affected region is Calabria, where over 11% of those employed in the sector work with pirate contracts. This is followed by Sicily (8.9%), Campania (8.5%) and Apulia (7%).
