Agreements renewed for ministries and state-controlled bodies

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July 1998 saw the conclusion of new collective agreements for the employees of Italy's ministries and state-controlled bodies. In order to increase the quality and efficiency of service, job gradings have been altered and individual performance-related incentives have been introduced. The 35-hour working week has been introduced for certain categories of employees. Finally, the agreements now provide for decentralised bargaining.

Reform of the civil service has for years been at the centre of political debate in Italy, and one area of intervention has been the rules governing the employment relationship. Through the "privatisation" of this relationship by law 29/93 - which in 1998 was also extended to senior civil servants (IT9802320F) - an attempt has been made to eliminate, at least formally, various differences between public and private sector workers.

During 1997, legislation also introduced changes in the system of worker representation (IT9711217F) in order to deal with the fragmentation of representation. Industrial relations in the Italian public sector are characterised by a high level of unionisation and by the presence alongside the main trade union confederations of a large number of autonomous unions (IT9806229F).

On the basis of these new rules, the renewal of a number of public-sector national collective agreements is underway in 1998. In July, two collective contracts were signed, those for ministry employees and for the employees of the semi-public bodies. The latter include organisations such as the National Institute of Social Insurance (Istituto Nazionale delle Pensioni, INPS), the National Board for Insurance against Accidents in Work (Istituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro, INAIL), the Italian Red Cross (Croce Rossa Italiana, CRI), and the Italian Automobile Club (Automobile Club Italiano, ACI).

The contents of the two deals

On 28 July 1998, the new contract for ministry workers was signed by ARAN, the public sector bargaining agency, and by the unions. The agreement covers approximately 280,000 workers.

The most significant points are the following:

• an average monthly salary increase of ITL 125,000, paid in instalments;

• the reform of job gradings. Instead of the present nine levels, three "professional areas" have been created, the aim being to achieve greater organisational flexibility. In fact, employees may be called upon to perform all job tasks equivalent in terms of pay in their professional area. Transfers within and among these areas may be made without holding public competitions. Instead, priority is given to the introduction of training and professional upgrading courses;

• the introduction of the 35-hour working week on the same pay scale for certain categories of employees, affecting only a limited number of employees overall. The reduction in working hours should involve, for example, personnel doing shiftwork (such as personnel working in data processing centres), some counter staff dealing with the public in order to extend opening times, and museum employees so that museums and art galleries can open in the evening; and

• the introduction of bargaining at the level of the individual administration. A fund to finance decentralised wage bargaining will be created in each ministry. Supplementary bargaining should also define incentive-linked targets; these incentives may also be paid individually on a performance-related basis.

The contract for ministerial employees is set to become a model for other sectors of the civil service, most notably the contract for the state-controlled bodies employees (around 65,000), signed by ARAN and the union confederations on 30 July 1998. Apart from differences in pay increases (ITL 145,000 per month paid in instalments), this contract resembles the former in that it alters job gradings by creating professional areas, introduces the 35-hour week for certain categories, and allows for decentralised bargaining.

There have been positive reactions to the signing of these two contracts from the Civil Service Minister, Franco Bassanini, from the chair of ARAN, Carlo Dell'Aringa, and from the union confederations. Mr Bassanini has said that the measures introduced will contribute to further reform of the civil service. For Mr Dell'Aringa, the two contracts are in line with incomes policy targets of keeping pay increases below the planned inflation rate. The union confederations have made the same points, while also stressing the importance of introducing decentralised bargaining in the public sector and pointing out that the contract confirms the two-tier (national and company-level) bargaining structure defined by the tripartite central agreement of 23 July 1993 (IT9803223F).

The pay increases provided by the contracts have attracted the criticisms of supporters of the opposition political parties, who argue that they are excessive and will fuel inflation. The Confindustria employers' organisation, for its part, has criticised the introduction of the 35-hour week for certain categories of workers.

Commentary

The main contents of the contracts for ministries and for the state-controlled bodies are seemingly in line with the Government's endeavour to reform the civil service. The changes introduced in job gradings and the introduction of performance-related incentives should help to eliminate management methods based more on bureaucratic criteria than on those of organisational efficiency. It obviously remains to be seen whether and to what extent they will lead to an effective improvement in the quality of services, which at the moment is one of the most critical aspects for the Italian civil service.

According to some observers, one may expect greater caution to be shown over the introduction of the 35-hour working work, although the measure will concern only certain categories of public sector workers. Indeed, it would have been advisable to wait for the outcome of the parliamentary process that should lead to approval of the relative law.

Finally, as far as industrial relations are concerned, the introduction of a two-tier bargaining structure will lead to the elimination of one of the main industrial relations differences between the public and private sectors in Italy. (Marco Trentini, Ires Lombardia)