Moves to regulate freelance coordinated work through law and bargaining

* The figures cannot be combined to give total figures for atypical work because they partly overlap.

** The total does not correspond to the sum of the subtotals by gender because these have been constructed from different sources.

Source: Ires

In order to deal with the difficulties in representing and protecting atypical workers, common to many atypical forms of employment which fall outside the scope of traditional sectoral collective bargaining (though the majority of workers on fixed-term and part-time contracts are covered by such bargaining), special structures have been set up within the trade union confederations. Cgil and Cisl have established, respectively, "New Work Identities" (Nuove Identità di Lavoro, Cgil-Nidil) and the Atypical and Temporary Agency Workers' Association (Associazione Lavoratori Atipici e Interinali, Alai-Cisl), while Uil has brought atypical forms of work within the remit of its Committees for Employment (Comitati per l'occupazione, Cpo), originally set up to represent unemployed people and those working in "socially useful jobs" (IT9807327F). Two areas of special importance for the activities of these union bodies are temporary agency work and freelance "coordinated" work. Temporary agency work is regulated by a special law (IT9707308F), and industrial relations and collective bargaining have seen important developments, most notably the conclusion of collective agreements at national level (IT9804163N, IT9801147N). However, as noted, there is still no law which regulates freelance "coordinated" work, although the matter is currently being considered by parliament. Nevertheless, amid considerable difficulties, collective bargaining has managed to achieve a number of significant agreements.

Draft bill on freelance coordinated work

The growth of atypical forms of work has attracted the attention of the political parties, prompting a series of proposals for their regulation (see, for example, the proposal for a "Jobs Statute" put forward in 1997 by the then minister of labour Tiziano Treu- IT9709310F). As regards freelance "coordinated" work, the Labour Commission of the Chamber of Deputies is currently discussing a draft bill already approved by the Senate. In the course of the debate, the Commission has agreed to a series of amendments proposed by the minister of labour ,Cesare Salvi, to the text approved by the Senate. As a consequence, the draft bill will be once again scrutinised by the Senate before its definitive approval.

The draft bill deals with a number of issues of crucial importance for the protection of workers on freelance "coordinated" contracts. Amongst other matters:

• it stipulates that the contract must be in written form and state certain essential conditions (subject, remuneration, duration, etc);

• it extends certain guarantees set out in the Workers' Statute to this type of employment relationship (in particular as regards freedom of opinion, the banning of discrimination, and the rights of association and trade union activity) as well as those on workplace health and safety, parity between men and women, and equal opportunities;

• it introduces tax incentives in order to encourage the organisation of training schemes for freelance "coordinated" "collaborators", and provides for the implementation of adequate coverage in the case of sickness based on the provisions for dependent employees; and

• it assigns to national-level collective bargaining the task of deciding certain issues, such as the creation of a national fund to promote skilling and reskilling courses, social security provision, income support measures, the fixing of minimum pay levels, the determination of the circumstances and forms of suspension of the contract in the case of maternity, illness or accident, and the provision of an end-of-service allowance.

At the same time, the changes made by the Chamber to the text approved by the Senate have made the regulation of freelance "coordinated" work less "rigid" by eliminating some constraints on: working hours; the minimum duration of the contract; minimum pay levels; the prohibition on changing open-ended contracts into freelance "coordinated" ones; and the workers' right to have priority over other applicants, should the employer decide to conclude new contracts in the same field. The amendments also relax other provisions, such as those concerning the right to information and union representation, or the automatic conversion into open-ended contracts of "fictitious" freelance "coordinated" relationships which disguise subordinate employment. The trade unions have reacted negatively to these changes, claiming that they weaken the position of collaborators to an excessive degree, reducing their protection and placing them in a situation close to self-employment.

Collective bargaining

Despite the absence of a clear legislative framework, collective bargaining has led to a series of important agreements on freelance "coordinated" work, which contain many of the elements present in the draft bill. Among the signatories to these agreements, besides unions, are both public bodies, in their dual capacity as employers and "regulators", and private firms. Many of the latter operate in the area of new technologies (call centres, Web contact centres, etc) or commercial services (for which they hire promoters and merchandisers, for example), and they seek high flexibility in their use of the workforce. As far as public bodies are concerned, by means of these agreements they have introduced regulated flexibility in areas where they have implemented forms of outsourcing.

Among the agreements reached by public bodies are those signed by the Emilia Romagna Regional Council and the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities. The former was signed in February 2000 and essentially represents a commitment by the Emilia Romagna regional authorities to supporting both workers on freelance "coordinated" contracts - by means of specific training programmes, the funding of business projects, and the acquisition of bank finance - and their representative associations - by favouring the creation of mutual organisations, also in order to facilitate access to credit, joint service provision, and promotional campaigns. The region has also pledged to begin talks with the trade unions on setting the minimum contents of its own freelance "coordinated" contracts.

The agreement between the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities and Cgil-Nidil, Alai-Cisl and Cpo-Uil was signed on 31 October 2000. It mainly concerns freelance "coordinated" work contracts concluded with workers previously engaged in socially useful jobs who have opted for this type of employment relationship. The main points of the agreement are the following:

• broad autonomy is granted to collaborators in fixing their work schedule and the manner in which the work is to be performed;

• access is granted to training and updating courses organised for employees, or through specific schemes;

• the measures on workplace health and safety stipulated by law apply in full;

• collaborators are entitled to four paid hours of time off per year to attend assemblies and participate in the election of trade union representatives. They may have trade union dues paid through the check-off system;

• the minimum duration of the contract is 12 months;

• remuneration will amount to no less than the labour cost fixed by the collective agreement for similar types of work;

• the contract is suspended in the case of illness, accident, maternity, parental leave, leave to care of family members, and leave for psycho-physical "recovery". In the case of maternity, the contract may be suspended for a maximum of five months, during which period the collaborator receives an allowance equivalent to 30% of her contracted remuneration;

• the trade union organisations will be given prior notification of collaboration contracts concluded, and will receive a report on all ongoing contracts at least once a year; and

• a national joint committee will be set up to supervise compliance with the agreement and to examine disputes over its application.

As regards private firms, notable agreements have been signed: at Mibi, a company which operates Web contact centres (signed on 23 October 2000 in Catania by Nidil, Alai and Cpo, and also by the Ugl-terziario union); at Answer, a company operating Web contact centres and commercial promotion services (signed on 30 March 2000); and at Telco, which runs call centres and delivers outsourced services (18 November 1999). Although the contents of these agreements differ considerably, they have a number of features in common. In particular, they usually include:

• recognition of the largely unpredictable nature of the company's business;

• a commitment by the company to undertake investments to expand its business, with a view to job creation especially in areas of high unemployment;

• the granting of a series of trade union rights to workers on freelance "coordinated" contracts (association, membership, assembly, election of representatives);

• definition of a conciliation procedure and the creation of a joint committee for dispute resolution;

• a commitment to apply the rules on workplace health and safety to collaborators as well;

• the provision of training for collaborators;

• the suspension of the contract in the case of illness, accident or maternity. In the case of maternity, the collaborator is usually entitled to an allowance;

• a period of rest for collaborators on contracts of more than a certain minimum duration; and

• the payment of an end-of-service allowance.

Commentary

The reasons for the growth of atypical forms of work in Italy are found in the greater flexibility that these arrangements permit in the use of the workforce, as regards duration of the employment relationship, working hours, work organisation, and labour costs. From this point of view, the changes made to the draft bill by the Chamber of Deputies, in a debate that still continues, are apparently intended to strike a balance between flexibility and worker protection. In effect, overly restrictive regulation of freelance "coordinated" work could discourage the use of such contracts, giving rise to even more "atypical" and difficult to regulate forms of employment.

On the other hand, collective bargaining to date highlights the ability of the social partners, even in the absence of an explicit legal framework, to reach agreements which introduce significant forms of protection for workers on freelance "coordinated" contracts. These agreements may be the first components of a possible system of industrial relations for such work. This is not to imply, however, that legislation on freelance "coordinated" work relationships is not necessary. Rather, a combination of rights to association and trade union representation with the guarantees essential for the protection of collaborators may form a suitably flexible regulatory framework which would rely essentially on collective bargaining and be sensitive to the differing situations of the various sectors and types of economic activity involved in this type of employment relationship. In effect, the relevant forms of flexibility vary from situation to another. For example, the agreements reached by public bodies seemingly take advantage of the possibility to implement collaborations with flexible duration and working hours, while remuneration is usually fixed at a level at least equivalent to that paid to dependent employees doing the same type of work. By contrast, collective bargaining with private companies usually includes significant wage flexibility, which is offset by granting a series of rights and guarantees to collaborators.

A final consideration concerns the trade union structures specifically concerned with atypical forms of work: Nidil, Alai and Cpo. The growth of their bargaining activities characterises these structures as full-fledged union organisations, although they are of a different type to the traditional ones, especially in that they operate across standard sectoral divisions. In this sense, paradoxically enough, they seem to reflect more the past than the future of industrial relations. Significant in this regard is the fact that, in some cases, the organisations representing atypical workers have signed agreements alongside sectoral organisations (as recently happened in the case of an agreement with Atesia, a company belonging to the Telecom Italia group), while on other occasions these organisations have negotiated on their own account, and in yet other cases agreements on atypical forms of employment have been signed by the sectoral unions alone. This fact suggests that the actual representativeness of the various union bodies for bargaining purposes is still uncertain, although the first episodes indicate an interesting path for trade union activity. On the other hand, the growing importance of atypical forms of work and the development of specific representation structures (another component of a possible new system of industrial relations) will probably require the sectoral unions and the associations representing atypical workers to achieve ever closer coordination and collaboration. (Roberto Pedersini and Gian Primo Cella, Fondazione Regionale Pietro Seveso)