Late July 1997 saw the renewal of the collective agreement covering some 800,000 workers in the textiles and clothing sector. The deal provides for pay increases in line with inflation and the creation of a supplementary occupational pensions fund.
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Late July 1997 saw the renewal of the collective agreement covering some 800,000 workers in the textiles and clothing sector. The deal provides for pay increases in line with inflation and the creation of a supplementary occupational pensions fund.
The dispute over the renewal of the sectoral agreement for 800,000 employees in textiles and clothing (mainly female workers) was concluded before the start of the summer break. A draft agreement for the second two-year period of the current four year contract was signed by the Federtessile sectoral employers' organisation (affiliated to the Confindustria confederation) and the sectoral trade union organisations, Filta-Cisl, Filtea-Cgil and Uilta-Uil, on 31 July 1997, the day before the largest factories closed for summer.
According to the guidelines of the July 1993 tripartite central incomes policy agreement, the negotiations for the second two-year period of a four-year sectoral agreement have to adjust workers' wages to the inflation rate projected by the government, and to make up for any differences between real and projected inflation which occurred in the previous two years. The negotiations are complex, due to the fact that the July 1993 agreement obliges social partners to calculate the recovery of the purchasing power of wages with reference to a set of conditions, amongst which the most important is the "imported" inflation rate (inflation dependent on the exchange rates and prices of raw materials on the international market) and the economic trends of the sector.
The average wage increase agreed in the textiles and clothing deal is ITL 124,000 per month, which will be paid in three instalments. On top of this, following the final signing of the agreement (scheduled for 19 September 1997) workers will receive a one-off bonus of ITL 140,000. The duration of the agreement was also extended by six months, and it will therefore now expire on 31 December 1999.
The agreement also foresees the setting up of a voluntary sectoral supplementary occupational pensions fund (IT9705205F). This fund will come into operation on 1 September 1999, on condition that it has received the support of at least 50,000 workers. The fund will be financed by employers' contributions of 1% of annual wages, and by 2% of the annual contribution to the Tfr fund, paid by workers. The Tfr (trattamento di fine rapporto) end-of-service allowance is a form of deferred pay withheld by the employer until termination of the employment relationship.
Following the general practice, the draft contract will be submitted to the approval of the workers in factory meetings which will take place at the beginning of September. Uilta-Uil (the smallest of three unions in the sector) approved the agreement but with reservations, as it considers the pay increases to be inadequate and does not agree with the six-month extension of the contract. However, the consensus reached in the negotiations within the other two unions means that it is most likely that the workers' assemblies in September will also approve the agreement.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1997), Textiles and clothing sectoral agreement renewed, article.
