On 6 May 2009, the Minister of Labour, Health and Social Policy, Maurizio Sacconi, presented a White Paper setting out the guidelines that the government will be following in order to initiate a gradual reform of the country’s welfare system. The document was compiled by a working group and was
On 27 March 2009, four years after the expiry of the preceding agreement, the national collective agreement for journalists was renewed. The agreement was signed by the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers (Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali, FIEG [1]) and the single representative trade
On 24 February 2009, the National Council for Economics Affairs and Labour (Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro, Cnel [1]) formally presented the report on Industrial relations in Italy and Europe – Wages and labour costs (in Italian) [2] for the two-year period 2006–2007. The report was
On 21 November 2008, the artisan employer organisations and the three main trade unions in Italy defined the ‘Guidelines for the reform of the bargaining system, of industrial relations and of bilateralism in the artisan industry’. The four employer organisations included: the General Italian
The textiles and clothing sector in Italy has been in decline due to competition following the opening of international markets on a gradual basis between 2001 and 2005, and due to low-cost products from industrially developing countries. This crisis has provoked the closure of more than 25,000
A Green Paper entitled ‘The good life in active society’ was presented by the Minister of Labour, Maurizio Sacconi, to the Council of Ministers on 25 July 2008. The paper is divided into two parts: after the minister’s preface, the document analyses the reasons why Italy’s welfare system needs to be
The Italian airline company Alitalia [1] has been in the midst of an economic crisis for many years. As a result, Italy’s then centre-left government headed by the former Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, decided to sell the company to the best buyer in accordance with a European procedure. [1] http:/
The Swedish group Electrolux [1] is a world leader in the production of electrical household appliances and kitchen appliances for industrial use. It has six manufacturing plants in Italy and employs over 8,000 workers in the country. In Italy, the Group produced stock amounting to seven million
International framework agreements (IFAs) came into being 20 years ago. These agreements are the result of bargaining between a multinational enterprise and an international sectoral trade union federation, sometimes supported by the national trade union federations as local experts. Despite the
Italy’s public sector has 3,612,993 employees, some 113,356 of whom are on fixed-term employment contracts, while over 40,000 are temporary agency workers. The use of fixed-term work [1] and temporary agency work [2] is increasing in the country’s public sector. For example, the number of temporary