National collective agreement signed for tourism industry

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In January 1999 the new national collective agreement for the Italian tourism industry was signed. The most innovative aspects of the agreement are: a jointly managed employment service for the sector; a working time reduction; the introduction of temporary work; the extension of decentralised bargaining; wage increases; a complementary pension scheme; and the extension of apprenticeship. The agreement will expire at the end of 2001, in order to avoid conflicts in the year of the Millenium celebrations.

On 22 January 1999, after seven months of negotiations, the new national collective agreement for the tourism, hotel and refreshment industry was signed in Rome by sectoral trade unions and the employers' organisations Confcommercio, Confesercenti and Federturismo.

According to the national intersectoral agreement of July 1993, the general regulatory elements of sectoral collective agreements must be renewed every four years, and the economic and pay elements every two years. However the sectoral social partners decided that the tourism agreement will expire on 31 December 2001 - ie after a three-year term - in order to avoid any possible conflicts in the year of the Millenium celebrations. Both the regulatory and economic elements will be renewed on that date. The main contents of the agreement are set out below.

Employment services

The social partners, considering that the free movement of workers and the match of supply and demand are premises for employment growth, have decided to use a network of jointly managed bodies to create a set of employment and placement services to facilitate the match of supply and demand on the sector's labour market. Both workers and companies will be able voluntarily to turn to these services in order to: analyse employment opportunities; foster workers' professional development; and facilitate mobility within the sector. Workers can provide information to the services about their professional experience and skills, while companies can provide information about their recruitment requirements.

Labour market and working time

The use of apprenticeship is expanded, in order to promote the employment of young people. The duration of apprenticeship contracts will vary between 18 and 48 months, depending on the job classification level which the worker will achieve at the end of the apprenticeship period. All apprentices will have to take part in training activities, the duration of which is linked to their educational qualifications: 120 hours of training for those who have completed compulsory education; 100 hours for those with a high school qualification; and 80 hours for those with a university degree. Decentralised bargaining at company/local level (see below) may modify the duration of both the contract and the training. Companies will be able to hire as apprentices young people between the ages of 18 and 26. The new agreement also improves payment provisions for apprentices in the event of of sickness or hospitalisation.

The agreement provides for the duration of part-time working hours to be decided by the workers and the company, with three options available:

• working hours on a weekly basis, from 15 to 28 hours;

• working hours on a monthly basis, from 64 to 124 hours; and

• working hours on an annual basis, from 600 to 1,352 hours.

Decentralised bargaining may reduce or increase the number of part-time hours.

The agreement provides for the introduction of jobsharing, enabling two workers to share the same job.

The deal extends the possibility of hiring temporary workers or workers on fixed-term contracts to all seasonal tourist activities. The number of such workers who may be recruited depends on the number of workers with an open-ended employment contract at the company. Companies must inform trade union representatives or - where these are not present - local union organisations about the number of fixed-term and temporary workers employed, the duration of their employment and the reasons behind their recruitment.

Annual working hours will be reduced by 24 hours.

Given the seasonal character of the tourism industry, the agreement makes provisions on dealing with the periods of intense activity through seasonal hours variations. It is possible to exceed average working hours during the high season and then make up for the excess hours during the periods of less intense activity. In these cases the excess hours will be paid as overtime work and the workers will be entitled to a corresponding period of compensatory time off that will be managed through the use of an "hours banks" (banca delle ore), allowing workers to save up their time off for later use.

Decentralised bargaining

Decentralised collective bargaining in the tourism, hotel and refreshment industry will occur at at company level in those enterprises with at least 15 employees. Companies with fewer than 15 employees will be covered by decentralised bargaining conducted at the local, territorial level. Territorial and company bargaining will concern:

• definition of issues not mentioned in the national sectoral agreement;

• working environment and protection of workers' health;

• distribution of working hours and shifts;

• articulation of weekly rest periods; and

• adoption of other kinds of flexible weekly working hours.

Moreover, territorial bargaining alone will concern:

• measures which make it possible to extend the possibility of hiring apprentices;

• Initiatives concerning the activities of local joint bodies;

• workers' training and retraining programmes; and

• use of fixed-term contracts for seasonal activities.

In order to encourage the "regularisation" of companies currently operating in an irregular or clandestine manner, the agreement foresees the possibility of negotiating, at territorial level, "special clauses" (clausole di uscita), which for allow the agreed pay increases to be implemented in a different manner. Such clauses aim to encourage clandestine firms to enter the regular economy and recognise unions and the relevant sectoral agreement (IT9706207F). The negotiation of special clauses must be authorised by the national trade union organisations and will be valid for the duration of the national agreement.

Decentralised bargaining will be able to put in place performance-related pay- a pay increase linked to productive, quality and profitability increases.

Other issues

Under the agreement, joint employer-union bodies will be responsible for:

• creating a database to match supply and demand and monitor the labour market;

• monitoring the use of temporary work; and

• extending training activities to professional and managerial staff.

A complementary occupational pension fund (IT9806228F), known as Fonte, is established, in which all the industry's workers may participate on a voluntary basis. The fund will be financed by a contribution from companies and workers totalling 0.5% of annual pay. The amount of the contribution can be changed only by a common decision of the signatories of the national agreement.

The agreement provides for an average monthly pay increase of ITL 105,000 paid in three annual stages, from 1 January 1999 to 1 January 2001. The deal also lays down rules on calculating wages in euros.

Gianni Baratta, secretary general of the Fisascat-Cisl trade union, believes that the agreement is very important and innovative because it "extends decentralised bargaining to all the companies and entrusts joint bodies with the management of the labour market".