Collective agreement signed for temporary agency workers

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A first collective agreement regulating the terms and conditions of employment for employees of Italy's temporary work agencies was signed by sectoral trade unions and employers' associations in December 1997.

December 1997 and January 1998 saw the first steps to regulate temporary work agencies - authorised for the first time in Italy by law 196/97 (IT9707308F) - through collective bargaining. On 5 December 1997, a collective agreement was signed by the sector's confederal trade unions - Filcams-Cgil, Fisascat-Cisl and Uiltcus-Uil- and employers' associations - ASSOINTERIM andASSILT- providing for the application of the national collective agreement for the services and distributive trade sectors to temporary agency employees. Negotiations are also underway for those who are not employees of the agencies, but who are used for temporary work.

Given the fact that temporary work is a new issue for employment relationships in Italy, the agreement provides for the setting up of a national joint committee, made up of the various parties "with the task of preparing and putting forward solutions which integrate and adapt particular institutions, taking into consideration the peculiarities of temporary employment".

On 1 January 1998, the Treasury Minister authorised the first 11 agencies to carry out the activities of selection, employment and placement in those companies which will make requests for temporary workers. Another 12 agencies are still waiting to receive authorisation to start up their operations. Companies can use temporary agency workers to fill in for absent workers and for specialised activities which their own personnel are not able to carry out.

The agencies can employ workers for an indefinite duration, and for these employees a reduced "availability pay" level is set by the agreement for those periods in which they are not employed by a user company.

Italian law prohibits the use of temporary workers for: dangerous work; low-skilled jobs; replacing workers on strike; or substituting for workers who have been dismissed with the previous 12 months. The precise definition of cases where the use of temporary workers will not be allowed will be the object of further negotiations between the trade unions and employers.

In a statement on 3 January 1998, the Labour Minister, Tiziano Treu, said that a figure of 250,000 temporary agency workers could be reached, which is around 2% of employed workers, in line with the European average.

The first temporary worker was employed in the second week of January 1998: a 36-year-old woman, who found employment for one month in a large company in the chemical/pharmaceutical sector.