Agreement signed for co.co.pro workers at the university of Siena

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In February 2005, the University of Siena and the Italian confederate and autonomous trade union organisations representing school workers signed an agreement to regulate 'project contract' employment. The agreement signed, the first of the kind, provides maternity, sickness and occupational accidents coverage and defines fixed deadlines for the payment of the annual remuneration.

An important agreement which regulates 'project work' was signed on 9 February 2005. The agreement was signed by the University of Siena (Università degli Studi di Siena) and by the trade union organisations representing the workers of the school sector and atypical workers affiliated to Italy’s main trade union confederations. For the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil) the agreement was signed by the association New labour identities (Nuove Identità di Lavoro, Nidil), by the National trade union of university and research (Sindacato Nazionale Università e Ricerca, Snur) and by the Federation of knowledge workers (Federazione Lavoratori della Conoscenza, Flc). For the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacato Lavoratori, Cisl) the agreement was signed by the Association of atypical and temporary-agency workers (Associazione Lavoratori Atipici e Interinali, Alai) and by Cisl Università. For the Union of Italian Labour (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil) the agreement was signed by the Association for the coordination of employment (Coordinamento per l’Occupazione, Cpo) and by the Federation of university and research (Federazione Università e Ricerca, Uil Fur). The agreement was also signed by the autonomous trade unions: the Italian autonomous trade union confederation of university personnel (Confederazione Italiana Sindacato Autonomo Personale Universitario, Cisapuni), the National autonomous trade union of school workers (Sindacato Nazionale Autonomo Lavoratori Scuola, Snals) and by the General confederation of autonomous workers’ trade unions (Confederazione Generale Sindacati Autonomi Lavoratori, Confsal).

Project contracts (Collaborazioni a progetto, Co.co.pro.) were introduced in 2003 by legislative decree 276/2003 (IT0404303F) implementing proxy law 30/2003 on the reform of the labour market. (IT0303103N) in place of the previous types of employer-coordinated freelance contracts (collaborazioni coordinate e continuative, Co.co.co) with the aim of preventing improper, or even fraudulent, use of the latter. The new regulation, however, have given rise to widespread uncertainty due to the difficulty of giving a precise definition to what constitutes a 'work project'. Moreover the lack of collectively-agreed pay scales of reference, the absence of any form of social protection, in case of involuntary interruption of the collaboration, have not improved to a great extent the condition of these workers.

The agreement signed by the rector of the University of Siena, Piero Tosi, by its administrative director Loriano Bigi and by the trade unions (http://www.alai.cisl.it/contenuti.asp?id=63), is the first of the kind and clarifies and improves the condition of project contract workers, by regulating and extending their social rights and protections.

The agreement protects workers in case of illness, occupational accidents and maternity by providing the right to temporarily suspend the performance without interrupting the employment relationship and postponing the deadline of the contract. In order to integrate the income of these collaborators, the University will sign a social security insurance in favour of these workers.

The contract will have to be in a written form and the University will be able to propose and activate new project contracts, beforehand, to the workers already involved in previous project.

Project workers will be able to have access to training and updating courses, even to those addressed to university personnel. Moreover they will be able to exercise trade union rights together with the other workers such as the right to participate in assembly

But, the important novelty of the agreement is the introduction of the description of the professional profiles to whom is applicable project contracts and the relative gross pay scale in line with the collectively-agreed pay scales provided for dependent employees. The annual remuneration will have to be paid in 11 instalments plus a final payment at the end of the collaboration.

According to Emilio Viafora, secretary general of Nidil-Cgil, the results achieved are particularly relevant because can open and accelerate negotiations in all Italian universities where thousands of project workers are employed. According to Mr Viafora, the University of Siena and the trade unions wanted to achieve two main objectives despite the cuts to university funds made by the Moratti reform (IT0304106F), the 'need to safeguard university autonomy and the extension of project workers rights'.

Fonti: testo dell’accordo, www.nidil.it, Il Sole 24 Ore 12.02.2005,

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