Representativeness of the social partners: Agricultural sector – Italy
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The aim of this representativeness study is to identify the respective national and supranational actors (i.e. trade unions and employer organisations) in the field of industrial relations in the agriculture sector in Italy. In order to determine their relative importance in the sector’s industrial relations, this study will, in particular, focus on their representational quality as well as on their role in collective bargaining.
1. General features of the sector
The Italian agriculture sector is represented at the institutional level by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Policies. Within the ministry there are several general directorates (GD) specialised on a sub-sectoral or product basis (for instance, the GD for agricultural policies of the milk and cheese sector, or of the olive oil or wine sectors, etc.). The survey on agriculture in Italy represented an important source of quantitative information for the present report. The unit of reference used in the survey was the number of companies of the sector.
Generally, when referring to ‘agriculture’, national reports and accounts on national economy also include forestry, hunting and fishing. Therefore, we can talk of congruence of the domain with the NACE description.
Definition of a farm business:
There is no official and universal definition of ‘farm business’ in Italy, However, in the publications of the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT), by ‘farm’ is meant an economic-technical unit with land (even in non-contiguous plots), equipment and machinery for farming, forestry and livestock. The undertaking is run by a tenant, i.e. a physical person, a company or a body assuming the corporate risk. The category also includes undertakings exclusively engaged in livestock raising without farmland.
| 1993 | 2004 | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of farms | 3,023,344** | 1,900,000 |
| Total labour force* | 1,118,000 | 990,000 |
| Male labour force* | 683,000 | |
| Female labour force* | 307,000 | |
| Total dependent employment | 357,397** | 416,000 |
| Male employment | 134,000 | |
| Female employment | 282,000 | |
| Aggregate sectoral employment as a % of total employment in the economy | 5.4% | 4.2% |
| Aggregate sectoral employees as a % of the total number of employees in the economy | 2.6% |
Source: European Commission, Eurostat (Community Labour Force Survey – LFS).
* Employees plus self-employed persons and agency workers.
**Source: Eurostat, figure for 1990.
- The most recent census on the agricultural sector reported a downward trend in the number of farms active in the sector (source:
www.censagr.istat.it). In 2001, the nationwide decrease in the number of farming, forestry and livestock businesses amounted to almost –14%. As is
often the case when analysing the economic sectors in Italy, marked geographic differences should be stressed in regard to agriculture: the
percentage decrease in farm businesses was –43.1% in Lombardy, a figure far above the national average, while in the south it was around –17%. Puglia
was the only region which recorded an increase – albeit a small one of 1.2% – in the number of undertakings.
The 2000 survey registered a traditional predominance of undertakings managed by the owner (2,457,960 companies, i.e. 94.7% of the total number), where 81.3% has a workforce made up by the owner’s family members.
Between 1990 and 2000, the use of arable land diminished by 12%. - The figures on the incidence of agriculture in the Italian economy furnish a more positive picture of growth (Rapporto Inea, Economia e
agricoltura).
In 2004, value added (VA) on base prices in the primary sector, including forestry and fishing, rose by 3% with respect to 2003, following an increase in quantity (10.8%) and a downturn in prices (–7.1%). The contribution by agriculture to the formation of value added by the Italian economy was 2.5%; in ‘real’ terms (1995 prices), the incidence of agricultural VA in the national total fell from 3.3% to 3.0%.
Although agricultural employment has fallen since 1990, the 2004 figures show that the total number of employed persons expressed in Standard Labour Units (SLU) increased by 0.8% since 2003, and that employment in the agricultural sector rose by 0.4%. Accounting for this rise is dependent employment, which increased by 2.6%, while self-employment diminished by 1%.
Some 69% of workers in agriculture are males: 49% are employed in the south, while the remaining 51% are distributed between the north (38%) and the centre (13%). The ratio between agricultural work and the population has changed rapidly in the 10 years considered. In 1994 there were 32 inhabitants for every agricultural labour unit, while in 2004 there were 46. The ratio has increased much more slowly in industry.
Total farm businesses by geographic area (north-west; north-east; centre; south; islands)
Source: www.censagr.istat.it
2. Trade union and employer organisations in the agricultural sector
Collective agreements cover the various sub-sectors of agriculture, e.g. fishing, floriculture or livestock raising. In Italy, the representation of workers’ interests is mainly horizontal in form, and the trade union federations in the agricultural sector are therefore internal structures of the national trade union confederations (Alacevich and Burroni, 2001). The three employer organisations, as we will see, are mainly at the national level.
Many of the organisations representing both employers and workers are affiliated with European-level organisations, as indicated in the tables setting out the membership figures.
Membership of both trade unions and employer organisations is voluntary and the figures that follow refer to the sector (i.e. the percentage of members of each trade union in the total number of workers in the sector).
2.1. Figures on the sectoral trade unions for agricultural workers
The main trade unions in the sector are affiliated to the three national trade union confederations: Cgil, Cisl and Uil. Internally to Cgil is the Flai (Federazione Lavoratori dell’Agroindustria, Agro-Food Industry Workers Federation), which organises dependent workers on permanent, fixed-term (casual) and seasonal contracts, as well as unemployed and under-employed workers in the agricultural sector and agro-food industry. In 2005, total membership (agricultural workers agro-food industry workers) amounted to 289,170.
Cisl comprises Fai (Federazione Agricola Alimentare Ambientale Industriale, Agro-Food Environment Industrial Federation), which is similar to Flai and has 205,079 members (2005), and the Ugc (Unione Generale Coltivatori, General Farmers’ Union), which represents individual and partnered farms (owner-occupiers, agricultural entrepreneurs, leaseholders and sharecroppers), with 70,934 members in 2005.
Finally, Uil runs the Uila (Unione Italiana Lavoratori Agroalimentare, Italian Agro-Food Industry Workers’ Union), which had 146,691 members in 2005, and the Uimec (Unione Italiana Mezzadri e Coltivatori Diretti, Italian Sharecropper and Independent Farmer Union), with 52,843 members (2005).
All the trade unions are affiliated with the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors and allied branches (EFFAT) and the International Union of Agro-Industry Workers GGG (UITA).
| Trade union | Number of members | Membership rate | Type of workers | National affiliation | European affiliation | Signatory to agreement CCNL (Y/N) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flai | 289,170 | 29% | Agricultural workers | CGIL | EFFAT – UITA | Y |
| Fai | 205,079 | 20% | Agricultural workers | CISL | EFFAT – UITA | Y |
| Ugc (Unione Generale Coltivatori) | 70,934 | 7% | Agricultural workers | CISL | EFFAT – UITA | Y |
| UIMEC (Unione Mezzadri e Coltivatori Diretti) | 52,843 | 5.3% | Agricultural workers | UIL | EFFAT – UITA | Y |
| Uila | 146,691 | 14.8% | Agricultural workers | UIL | EFFAT – UITA | Y |
| Alpa (Associazione lavoratori produttori agroalimentari) | 52,000* | 5.2% | Agricultural workers but with other activities | EFFAT – GEOPA COPA | N |
Fonte: E-mails and telephone interviews with organisation representatives; membership data available on the trade unions' websites; unavailable data supplemented from questionnaire for EIRO Comparative Study on Industrial Relations in Agriculture.
* Figure provided by the president of ALPA.
2.2 Agricultural employers organisations
The main agricultural employer organisations in Italy are:
- Confagricoltura (Confederazione Generale dell’Agricoltura, General Confederation of Agriculture), which represents various types of farmer – independent farmers, leaseholders, family businesses or partnerships; its members usually operate medium to large-sized undertakings;
- Coldiretti (Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti, National Farm Independent Farmers’ Confederation), which mainly represents medium to small undertakings;
- CIA (Confederazione italiana agricoltori, Italian Farmers’ Confederation).
Each has a representative office in Brussels and they are the main interlocutors in the definition and implementation of European policies. The provincial, or more generally ‘territorial’, branches of the employer organisations have an extremely significant role because decentralised bargaining has now become of great importance in the sector (see below).
Also important are the confederations representing agricultural cooperatives, concentrated particularly on niche product markets (56% of the Grana Padano cheese production and 90% of Parmigiano is obtained by cooperatives). Therefore, there are also cooperatives and consortium that are members of the National Association of Agro-food Cooperatives (Associazione Nazionale Cooperative Agroalimentari – ANCA LEGACOOP), the National Federation of Agricultural and Agro Food Cooperatives (Federazione Nazionale Cooperative Agricole ed Agroalimentari – Confcooperative) and to AGICA – AGCI and that take part in collective bargaining for the employees of agricultural cooperatives. Cooperatives generally group a number of companies, therefore it was not possible to set membership data referring to them on the following table, as the unit of reference is the farm business. However, it was important to quote them, as they sign some collective agreements in the sector (see also Table 4).
| Organisation | Number of associated farm businesses | Type | Density in the sector* | Workers represented ** | National affiliation | European affiliation | Firma CCNL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confagricoltura | 500,000 | General (mainly large farm businesses) | 19% | n.a. | Confagricoltura | GEOPA-COPA, FIPA (Federazione Internazionale Produttori Agricoli – International Federation of Agriculture Producers), CEA (Confederazione Europea Agricola – European Agriculture Confederation) | Y |
| Coldiretti | 568,000 | Mainly owner-occupied farms | 21.9% | 1,400,000 | Coldiretti | GEOPA-COPA, COFACE (Confederation des Organisations familiales de la Ce – Confederation of Family Organisations in the EU), AEIAR (Associazione Europea di Interventi di Riordino Fondiario – European Organisation of Interventions for Land Reorganisation), AEVP (Associazione Esportatori Vino di Porto – Export Organisation f Porto-Wine), CEPFAR (Comitato Europeo per la promozione e la formazione in Ambiente Agricolo e Rurale – European Committee for Promotion and Training in the Agriculture and Rural Environment) | Y |
| CIA | 880,023 | 33.9% | 1,473,784 | CIA | GEOPA-COPA | Y | |
| AGICA | Cooperative agricole** | AGICI | Y | ||||
| ANCA | Cooperative agricole** | LegaCoop | Y | ||||
| Federazione Nazionale Cooperative agricole e agroalimentari | Cooperative agricole** | Confederazione Italiana cooperative | Y | ||||
| Copagri | n.a. | Agricultural cooperatives agricole | |||||
| Confederdia | n. a. | Managers | |||||
| Andaa | n. a | Managers | CIDA (Confederazione dirigenti alte professioni) |
Source: E-mails and telephone interviews with organisation representatives; unavailable data supplemented from questionnaire for EIRO Comparative Study on Industrial Relations in Agriculture
* The estimation of the density has been calculated on the number of farm business including the small ones excluded by the European definition of Eurostat, because the employer organisations actually represent small companies too.
** It is difficult to estimate the worker representativeness rate because these figures generally comprise pensioners, self-employed workers, farm owners and family members who work on the farm, not all of whom are included in the overall figure for the labour force on which the ratio is calculated.
3. Inter-organisation relations
The activity of the agricultural sector often crosses that of the agricultural and food industry.
4. The collective bargaining system
National-level bargaining in the agricultural sector covers all workers and all employers, as do the collective agreements in every other sector of the Italian economy, according to the principle of the erga omnes (universal) applicability of collective bargaining. Consequently, the contents of collective agreements also apply to workers and employers who do not belong to the organisations signatory to the agreement.
Besides conducting national and territorial collective bargaining with the employer organisations, the trade unions hold elections for the unitary workplace union structures (RSUs) which conduct company-level collective bargaining.
| Bargaining actors | Coverage of agreements/contracts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sectoral | Type of employee | Territorial | National | |
| AGICA-AGCI; ANCA-Legacoop; Federazione Nazionale Cooperative Agricole (Confederazione Italiana Cooperative); Flai-CGIL; Fai-CISL; Uila-UIL | Agricultural cooperatives | Employees of agricultural cooperatives | National collective agreement for dependent employees of agricultural cooperatives and consortia (1 January 2002 to 31 December 2005) | |
| UNCEM; Federazione Italiana Comunità Forestali – Federforeste; AGICA-AGCI; ANCA-Legacoop; Federazione Nazionale Cooperative Agricole ed Agroalimentari – Confcooperative Federlavoro e Servizi – Confcooperative; FLAI-CGIL; FAI-CISL; UILA-UIL | Cut flowers | Agricultural workers | National collective agreement for horticultural workers and GEIE | |
| Confagricoltura; Federazione Nazionale Proprietari Conduttori in Economia; Federazione Nazionale Affittuari Conduttori in Economia; Federazione Nazionale delle conduzioni associate e della Soccida; Federazione nazionale della colonia e forme associative varie; Unione nazionale della Avicoltura; Coldiretti, CIA; Federdia, Agri-Quadri, Confederdia; Flai-CGIL; Fisba-CISl; Uila-UIL | Managerial and clerical staff | Managerial and clerical staff | National collective agreement for agricultural managerial and clerical staff (1 January 2000 to 1 December 2003) | |
| Confagricoltura; Federazione Nazionale Proprietari Conduttori in Economia; Federazione Nazionale Affittuari Conduttori in Economia; Federazione Nazionale dei Conduttori in Forme aAsociative; Coldiretti, CIA; Flai-CGIL; Fisba-CISl; Uila-UIL | Farm and nursery workers | Farm and nursery works | PLC*: Trapani; Grosseto; Bolzano; Cuneo; Siracusa; Bergamo; Caserta; Siena; Mantova; Rovigo | National collective agreement for farm and nursery workers (1 January 2002 to 31 December 2005) |
| Associazione Nazionale Esportatori Importatori Ortofrutticoli ed Agrumari - ANEIOA; Flai-CGIL; Fisascat-CISL; UilTuCS-UIL | Fruit and vegetables | Agricultural workers | National collective agreement for employees of fruit and vegetable growers (1 January 2003 - 31 December 2006) | |
Source: Websites of the trade unions and employer organisations.
* PLC = provincial labour contract. The industry-wide agreement (according to article 2 and article 88 and 89) entitles the provincial branches of the various organisations to negotiate renewal of the contracts and, in particular, to define wages and other elements related to the labour contract, like training, hiring procedures, etc. The present table provides a list of only some of the latest PLC that have been reached and signed, but of course every province has one.
5. Formulation and implementation of public policies targeted on the agricultural sector
As mentioned, the interest representation organisations are the main negotiators with the government. There is no formal negotiation systematically foreseen on certain issues, but there is negotiation on many issues regarding the agriculture sector.
Talks have recently been held, for instance, on:
- Transposition of EC Directives. Agreement on application of the new CAP (Common Agricultural Policy introduced in 2003) was reached by the government, the regional administrations and professional organisations in 2004.
- Another important issue in the Italian agricultural sector is the high level of irregular labour. A common avis was signed in May 2004 to promote the regularisation of illegal agricultural workers through good practices and operational measures, which are shortly to be implemented by government legislation. The measures most urgently required are monitoring of the phenomenon, the stabilisation of employment and compliance with health and safety regulations. Recommendations have been made to the government on reform of the social shock absorbers and concessions on tax and contributions designed to favour the regularisation of certain categories of workers (e.g. immigrants).
- Another form of discussion – albeit with the local rather than national government – consists in the recently created Green Tables. These are forums for concertation on agricultural and environmental questions among representatives of the local farm business community, environmental organisations and local authorities.
There are other bilateral bodies like Agriform, which monitors training needs in the sector, or the agricultural training centres, which liaise between continuing and vocational training centres and local agricultural undertakings.
6. The regulation of interests’ representation in the agricultural sector
As said, national sectoral collective bargaining has erga omnes applicability. Another feature of collective bargaining in Italy in the private sector is the lack of mechanisms for selection of the actors entitled to engage in bargaining procedures.
7. Comments
The Italian agricultural industry mainly consists of small enterprises. For this reason, one of the issues most frequently raised in the interviews with the trade union representatives was the need to enhance the sector’s competitiveness.
Besides the number of small firms, the agricultural sector also includes a great number of activities that vary from the traditional plantation, to the management of agriturismi (and therefore farms can have an important role in the requalification of the territory), to the experimentation of new product markets, the so called ‘biological products’. Though the sector’s importance in the national GP is not very high, there is evidence of a growing importance of the agricultural products when linked to the marketing of some areas (e.g. the wine areas of Tuscany or olive oil production in the southern regions).
There are therefore many employer organisations, as shown in Table 4, with specific interests (aviculture, flower sales, etc.), but the three main organisations (Table 3) remain the main references for the collective bargaining system at the national level.
References and websites
Alacevich, F. and Burroni, L. (2001) in Sectoral Unions and Employers Organisations in the EU Agricultural Sector - Annual Report on Social Concertation and Collective Bargaining, Project V/001/97, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Institut des Sciences du Travail.
Report on the 5th census of agriculture in Italy, available at http://censagr.istat.it.
'Economica e Agricoltura' report atwww.inea.it,.
For the quantitative data, the databases of Eurostat, Istat and Eurispes were consulted.