New agreement signed for food sector

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In June 2001, the pay and economic part of the national collective agreement for the Italian food sector was renewed. Over 2001-3, workers will receive an average pay increase of ITL 125,000 (EUR 65) gross per month and a one-off payment of ITL 240,000 (EUR 124). The social partners also agreed a number of common commitments on the topical issue of food safety.

On 20 June 2001, the pay and economic part of the national collective agreement for the food sector was renewed by an agreement signed by the national secretaries of the food industry federations affiliated to the three main trade union confederations - Fai-Cisl, Flai-Cgil and Uila-Uil- and the sectoral employers' organisations. The two-year deal, covering 2001-3, was concluded after three months of negotiations.

In their platform of demands issued in April 2001, the trade unions had asked for a monthly pay increase of ITL 140,000 (EUR 72), while employers offered ITL 75,000 (EUR 39) per month. In the negotiations, the partners agreed upon an average monthly pay increase of ITL 125,000 (EUR 65) in two stages: ITL 45,000 (EUR 23) in June 2001 and ITL 80,000 (EUR 41) in June 2002. For the first time, the agreement also provides for a one-off payment, of ITL 240,000 (EUR 124) to be paid on 31 January 2002.

The agreement is significant for three reasons:

• it provides for the recovery of the loss of purchasing power arising because of differences between predicted inflation and real inflation. For this reason, the social partners did not include, in calculating the pay increase, the increase in productivity. This is a key point of disagreement in the dispute between trade unions and employers, and among the unions, in the current bargaining in the metalworking sector (IT0106187N);

• it acts as an important reference point because it confirms the innovative contents of the July 1993 national intersectoral agreement, which regulates Italy's pay bargaining structure and incomes policy (IT9803223F). Furthermore, the bargaining saw unity of action between the sectoral federations affiliated to the three main union confederations - unlike the metalworking sector, where unions have breached this unity by calling separate strikes; and

• it contains the social partners' views on the very important issue of food safety. After the recent crises caused by BSE and the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in much of Europe, and the consequent loss of consumer confidence in food products, the partners decided that it was necessary to urge the competent bodies to guarantee an "integrated production branch approach", in order to control food products throughout their production chain. This should start with "responsible and sustainable agriculture, from economic, environmental and social points of view". Moreover, the partners believe that it is necessary to speed up the creation of a European food authority, which should conduct risk assessments on all food and agriculture products.

In the introduction to the agreement, the social partners commit themselves to working actively for the competitive growth of the food sector, entrusting an observatory already established by an earlier national collective agreement with monitoring the situation and defining any further joint actions on food safety issues.

All parties welcomed the agreement with satisfaction. Francesco Chiarico, the general secretary of Flai-Cgil, underlined the importance of the agreement in relation to the Italian bargaining system: "The agreement signed today consolidates the July 1993 agreement and raises the value of the national sectoral collective agreement." According to Uliano Stendardi, the deputy general secretary of Fai-Cisl, "the agreement allows for the full recovery of purchasing power and deals with a strategic issue, food safety, on which the partners defined common actions." Ettore Fortuna, the vice-president of the Federalimentare sectoral employers' association, said that "the agreement brings a certain solidity to the industrial relations system because it was signed in a short time, without conflicts and with economic solutions compatible with the international competitiveness of the sector."

The food sector has an important position in the Italian economy. It is the third most important industry after metalworking and textiles and garments. It employs 350,000 workers and involves 30,000 companies with a total turnover of ITL 170,000,000 million (EUR 87,798,000) and exports worth more than ITL 23,000,000 million (EUR 11,879,000) per year.