National agreement signed for healthcare sector and regional environmental agencies

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In January 1999, the Aran public sector employers' body and the sectoral trade unions signed a new national collective agreement for Italy's healthcare sector and regional environmental protection agencies. The most important points of the agreement include new industrial relations rules, a new job classification, pay increases, working time reductions and measures on fighting child labour.

On 20 January 1999, Aran- the public body which represents the state as an employer in collective bargaining - and the sectoral trade unions affiliated to the three main confederations, Cgil, Cisl and Uil, signed a new national collective agreement covering the healthcare sector and regional agencies for the protection of the environment. The agreement is particularly innovative in that it reorganises the systems of industrial relations and collective bargaining in the sector, with a particular attention to decentralised bargaining levels. The new industrial relations system is articulated around five levels:

1. national-level bargaining;

2. decentralised bargaining;

3. "concertation";

4. consultation; and

5. information.

The agreement reconfirms the role for national sectoral collective bargaining set out in the national tripartite intersectoral agreement signed in July 1993 (IT9803223F).

Under the new agreement, decentralised collective bargaining at the level of individual companies and bodies in the sector regulates the following subjects:

• systems of incentives for employees, and programmes to increase productivity and improve the quality of services;

• implementation of working time reductions (methods and verification);

• annual and multiannual vocational training programmes;

• guidelines and criteria for the improvement of the working environment;

• consequences of organisational and technological innovations;

• management of part-time employment contracts;

• implementation of equal opportunities policies;

• personnel classification; and

• management of careers.

The partners decided that decentralised bargaining may not result in agreements which do not respect the constraints and limitations set by national bargaining. Clauses in decentralised agreements which do not conform with the sectoral agreement are therefore void and cannot be applied. Decentralised collective agreements will last for four years and negotiations over them have to start within 30 days from the submission of a request for talks from the trade union organisations. The agreements must contain specific clauses concerning the timetable, methods and verification procedures for their implementation.

The sector's concertation (dialogue) procedure may be initiated by any party to the agreement through a written request, and concertation meetings must be concluded within 30 days from the request. Concertation may cover the following subjects:

• organisation of working hours within the services concerned;

• periodic verification of the productivity of operational structures;

• definition of the criteria for the determination and the distribution of jobs;

• employment trends; and

• implementation of the classification and performance appraisal system..

Consultation of trade union representatives must cover the following subjects:

• the organisation and functional procedures of workplaces;

• the efficiency and effectiveness of the services provided; and

• the composition of the arbitration board in charge of managing disciplinary matters.

In order to make consultation on specific, recurrent subjects permanent, the partners will set up national joint committees and "observatories" responsible for the following subjects:

• work organisation;

• reorganisation of institutions and companies;

• reconversion or closure of healthcare facilities;

• health and safety at work; and

• training activities.

These joint committees will be composed of an equal number of representatives of both sides and will have a fair representation of women.

At regional level, the agreement foresees the establishment of "standing conferences" (Conferenze Permanenti), involving representatives of the regions, company managers and union representatives. At national level, a "national conference" (Conferenza Nazionale) will be established, involving representatives of Aran, the "state-region conference" (a joint body composed of state and regional representatives) and trade unions. These two "conferences" will analyse all matters linked to productivity, training and employment policies. The former will study mobility trends at regional level, and the latter at national level.

The agreement also provides for the establishment, within every body and company in the sector, of an equal opportunities committee composed of the representatives of each union organisation and an equal number of employers' representatives (one of whom will chair the committee). These committees will encourage effective equality for women in working conditions and in professional development. Companies and bodies must guarantee the conditions for these committees to operate, and the committees must draft an annual report on their activities.

Timely information of trade union representatives by employers must cover employment relationships, the organisation of workplaces and the management of human resources. The partners will meet at least once a year, and on each occasion that there are initiatives concerning the organisation of workplaces and services, technological innovation or any procedures of divestment, outsourcing and transformation of services.

The agreement's provisions on industrial relations structures are completed by the extension of the unitary trade union representation body (Rappresentazione sindacale unitaria, Rsu) to the sector. These works council-type bodies already exist elsewhere in the private and public sectors. Workplace Rsus will be elected under the same rules as apply to the public sector on the basis of the framework agreement of 7 August 1998 (IT9812333F). Furthermore, the new agreement provides for "cooling-off" procedures in conflict situations. To this end, direct actions or unilateral initiatives will not be possible during the first month of decentralised negotiations, during which period the partners will have to make "every possible effort to come to an agreement on the subjects at hand".

Substantive issues

As well as structural matters, the new agreement for healthcare and regional environmental agencies covers a number of substantive issues.

• The job classification system has been completely renewed with the adoption of a new system based around four categories (A, B, C and D).

• Part-time employment will be introduced for all job types and, unlike previously, the workers concerned will be allowed to have another job (dependent or self-employed) outside the public sector. The proportion of part-time workers cannot exceed 25% of full-time workers for each category. In particular organisational or family situations, this limit is increased by 10%. Part-time work can be "horizontal" (ie on a weekly basis) or "vertical" (ie on a monthly or annual basis). Other ways of organising this employment relationship can be agreed directly between the worker and the company.

• As for working time, a 35-hour working week is introduced, on an experimental basis, for shiftworkers. For the rest of the personnel, weekly working time will remain 36 hours which may be varied over a reference period of some weeks or a year, provided that weekly hours are between 24 and 44 hours. The daily working time of shift workers cannot exceed 12 consecutive hours.

• Workers may not work more than 180 hours of overtime each per year. Overtime will attract a pay premium of 15% for daytime work, 30% for night work and work on public holidays and 50% for night work on public holidays.

• In the framework of current reforms of the healthcare system, vocational training is considered "fundamental for the professional development of employees and to achieve the planned objectives". The agreement differentiates between obligatory training activities carried out during working hours - regulated by decentralised bargaining - and optional training activities carried out outside working hours. For the latter, the employing company or body may contribute to the expenses if the training is in line with established programmes.

• The average monthly pay increase is ITL 45,000 from 1 November 1998 and ITL 38,000 from 1 June 1999.

• The agreement introduces a complementary occupational pension scheme through the creation of a national fund. The parties will define the criteria for participation in the fund.

• The agreement contains a joint declaration on child labour. In order to contribute to the efforts of international institutions and the Italian government, and to the fund-raising promoted by employers' organisations and union confederations to support International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) projects in Pakistan's surgical equipment sector, the agreement's signatories commit themselves to monitoring that the production of this equipment takes place in compliance with basic ILO Conventions.

According to Ermenegildo Bonfanti, secretary general of the Fist-Cisl trade union, "the part of the agreement that renews the industrial relations system and promotes decentralised bargaining is extremely innovative while the economic part seems to be fair and to satisfy workers' expectations."