In July 1998, trade unions and management at the recently-formed Italian postal services company, Poste Italiane SpA, signed an agreement introducing a new private sector-type system of employment conditions, aimed at rewarding workers which meet quality and other targets.
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In July 1998, trade unions and management at the recently-formed Italian postal services company, Poste Italiane SpA, signed an agreement introducing a new private sector-type system of employment conditions, aimed at rewarding workers which meet quality and other targets.
The communications sector trade unions of the Cgil, Cisl and Uil confederations and the postal services company, Poste Italiane SpA, signed an agreement on 2 July 1998 introducing a "rewarding system" (sistema premiante) for postal workers - ie one that rewards workers who meet various targets. Poste Italiane SpA is a public limited company created in February 1998, as part of the privatisation process of Italian postal services. The background to the agreement is the acceptance by both management and unions of a shared goal of improving the efficiency of the Italian postal system. This means moving from an employment relationship typical of the public administration, which in Italy is regulated by law, to a private sector employment relationship, regulated by collective bargaining (IT9703105N).
The new agreement provides for a system that rewards the performances of those workers who guarantee the quality of services, work flexibility and the reduction of absence and who contribute to meeting production targets.
In order to guarantee the efficiency of the delivery of mail and to provide services even when workers are absent, the agreement foresees the possibility of redeploying workers from one sector of Poste Italiane to another. The agreement also provides for recruitment on fixed-term part-time contracts to deal with the periods of most intense work. Moreover, fixed-term part-time workers may be employed to substitute for absent personnel. To this end, special placement lists will be created, whereby workers enrolled in these lists may be called in to work when necessary.
The agreement also provides for: the introduction, for middle managers, of a system of incentives linked to the company's results; and the modification of work organisation together with the introduction, in certain areas of activity, of team work.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1998), Agreement introduces new system at Poste Italiane, article.
