Temporary agency work extended to public administration

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In May 2000, a framework agreement was concluded on the introduction of temporary agency work in the Italian public administration. The agreement leaves various detailed provisions to be agreed at the level of the various subsectors of the public administration, and this process was completed in July with the conclusion of an agreement for regional and local administrations.

Temporary agency work (lavoro interinale) was introduced in Italy by law 196/97 (IT9707308F), which was later modified and integrated by decrees in 1998 (IT9804163N) and 1999 (IT9912135N). Bargaining among the social partners was given responsibility for the definition of the rules implementing the introduction of temporary agency work.

A framework agreement on the regulation of temporary agency work in the public administration was concluded on 23 May 2000 by the Aran public sector bargaining agency and the trade unions. The framework agreement provided for the general principles concerning the use of temporary agency work, while entrusting supplementary bargaining in individual subsectors with the definition of more specific provisions on issues such as: the permitted conditions for recourse to temporary agency work; pay and benefits; and rules concerning temporary agency workers' participation in trade union activities.

The framework agreement itself establishes that it is possible to use temporary agency workers only to meet periodical, non-continuous or exceptional personnel shortages. It is not possible to use temporary agency work to meet in a stable and continuous way structural personnel shortages. The proportion of temporary agency workers cannot exceed 7% of the workers employed on open-ended contracts in each administrative body. Temporary agency workers are entitled to receive the same pay as provided for the permanent workers in the same job, and they are able to take part in the meetings organised by the trade unions for permanent staff. Administrations will have to inform and consult Rsu workplace employee representative bodies about the number, justification, contents, duration and costs of temporary agency contracts. In case of extreme need, the administrative body will be able to inform the Rsu after having hired the temporary agency worker, but in any case within five days of the beginning of the contract.

The process of concluding supplementary agreements on temporary agency work in the various subsectors of the public administration ended on 5 July 2000 with the conclusion of an agreement for regional and municipal administrations. This agreement extends the possibility of using temporary agency workers to some professions which are currently not present in the public administration, in order to test their usefulness. Furthermore, among the exceptional cases for which the use of temporary agency work is allowed, the agreement lists: important legislative innovations which have implications on work organisation; the installation and updating of information technology systems; and the elaboration of "quality handbooks" or "service charters" for users (carta dei servizi) - documents drawn up by public administrations in order to guarantee the transparency, effectiveness and efficiency of their services. In these cases, the use of use of temporary agency workers may not exceed 60 days, provided that the administration starts to look for a permanent worker to carry out the job in question, and 180 days for jobs which require hard-to-find skills.

The regional and municipal administration agreement specifies that temporary agency workers will be able to attend training courses on safety and prevention at the workplace organised for permanent workers. Temporary agencies will be responsible for the workers' behaviour and will have to take the necessary disciplinary measures if the administrations report improper behaviour. Decentralised bargaining at the level of each administrative body will be responsible for the definition of the various pay supplements linked to the job performed. The administration will have to prove to trade union representatives that the 7% limit on agency workers, provided for by the framework agreement, has been respected. Finally, the agreement provides for the creation of an "observatory" to monitor temporary agency work experiences within the local administrative bodies. On the basis of the observatory's findings, the signatories will carry out a verification of the application of the agreement by the end of 2001.

Commenting on the public administration agreements, temporary work agencies said that the 7% ceiling is very low compared to that applied in private sector (about 10%), and that the procedures for supplying temporary work to the public administration are very complex. According to Nicoletta Spinna, managing director of Temporary, one of the main Italian temporary work agencies, competition for supplying temporary work to the public administration will essentially be based "on the price of the services provided, neglecting important elements such as the quality of the services, the design of the supply of services, and the soundness of the temporary work agency".

Trade unions, for their part, are satisfied with the result of the negotiations, which close the bargaining round on the issue of temporary agency work in the Italian public administration.