Milan agreement on reconciling work and family life

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In January 2003, an innovative agreement on reconciling work and private life was signed in Milan by local trade union organisations and the Apimilano association of small and medium-sized employers. The accord provide for a number of projects in this area, notably aimed at helping working parents.

Article 9 of Law 53/2000 provides for the allocation, on behalf of the Ministry of Labour, of non-reimbursable funds for the realisation of actions aimed at encouraging the reconciliation of work and private life. According to the law, 50% of these funds should be allocated to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and actions should be mainly addressed to working parents. They should facilitate and encourage the use of parental leave and the reintegration into the workplace of parents after such leave.

Up until now the majority of these funds have not been allocated because both companies and workers have not been adequately informed, and because of difficulties in defining the projects to be funded. However, a local agreement was signed in Milan on 13 January 2003 aimed at overcoming the problems with application of the law and making available the funds provided for by it. It proposes initiatives and actions for the realisation of projects aimed at reconciling work and family life for workers at SMEs in Milan and its surrounding province. The agreement was signed by the Milan organisations of the three main trade union confederations - the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil), the Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacato Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil) - and Afimilano, the local SME employers' association,

On the basis of the agreement the partners will conduct joint initiatives in order to:

• facilitate the signature of decentralised collective agreements in SMEs, introducing new flexible forms of working hours and changes to work organisation allowing 'companies and, in particular, working parents to manage work activity and leave in a flexible way'; and

• encourage the joint formulation of training programmes, refresher courses and vocational qualification and requalification courses, in order to promote reintegration at work after maternity or parental leave. The training programmes must be carried out during working hours and, where possible, distance training should be also used.

The partners have set up a working group at provincial level, which will be responsible for:

• the dissemination of information on the opportunities provided for by Law 53/2000;

• support to companies and workers in planning and drafting projects, the administrative management of projects and the choice of initiatives to implement;

• the organisation of a system of effective relations with the offices of the Ministry of Labour to guarantee a constant flow of useful information;

• the realisation of studies and surveys on the forms of flexibility and work organisation present in the area; and

• the monitoring of the implementation of collective agreements and the dissemination and exchange of good practices or pilot initiatives.

The agreement was welcomed by all the parties. Maria Grazia Fabrizio, general secretary of Cisl's Milan organisation, highlighted the importance of the accord, in particular because it 'deals with concrete and relevant problems, especially for women, such as reconciling work and private life'. Danilo Brogli, president of Apimilano, also underlined the importance of the agreement, especially for women, and said that he was 'convinced that it will contribute to increasing women's employment rate'.