New collective agreement for electricity sector

In July 2006, a draft collective agreement was signed in the electricity sector for the period 2006–2010. The deal, which consolidates the single sectoral agreement signed for the first time four years ago, provides for average pay increases of €110 for the approximately 70,000 workers in the sector. The agreement also establishes the central importance of issues concerning the country’s energy policy and introduces important measures with regard to the industrial relations system.

Background

In June 2001, after almost 40 years of state monopoly in the production, delivery and distribution of electricity in Italy, the first phase of liberalising the electricity market and privatising the National Electricity Board (Ente Nazionale per l’Energia Elettrica, ENEL) led to the signing of the first single national-level agreement for the electricity sector (IT9811188N, IT9910131N). At that time, the problems of defining a new industrial relations structure for the sector (IT9911256F) and the difficulties surrounding change in the market regulation system resulted in prolonged negotiations for almost two years, during which there were fierce disputes and conflicts even among the trade unions themselves (IT0109197N).

Signing of new collective agreement

On 18 July 2006, following what is by now standard practice in the Italian industrial relations system, a new collective agreement was signed approximately one year after the expiry of the previous agreement. Although the negotiations were occasionally tense, overall there was little conflict during this period. Even the strike called by the unions following the breakdown of talks on 23 June was called off, due mainly to intervention by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali) and the three trade union confederations, which enabled the resumption and positive conclusion of the bargaining phase.

The three trade union confederations involved in the intervention were the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil), the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil).

The draft agreement concerns about 70,000 workers. On the employers’ side, it was signed by: the National Association of Electricity Enterprises (Associazione Nazionale delle Imprese Elettriche, Assoelettrica-Confindustria); the Federation of Electricity and Water Enterprises (Federazione delle Imprese Energetiche e Idriche, Federutility-Confservizi); and ENEL Spa on behalf of the companies it controls and that are not affiliated to Assoelettrica, namely Gestore del Sistema Elettrico (Grtn), Società Gestione Impianti Nucleari (Sogin) and Rete Elettrica Nazionale (Terna).

On the worker representatives’ side, the agreement was signed by: the recently founded Italian Chemicals, Energy and Manufacturing Federation (Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Chimici Energia Manifatture, Filcem-Cgil); the Italian Electricity Company Workers Federation (Federazione Lavoratori Aziende Elettriche Italiane, Flaei-Cisl); and the Italian Chemicals, Energy and Manufacturing Workers Union (Unione Italiana Lavoratori Chimici Energia Manifatturiero, Uilcem-Uil).

Content of agreement

The agreement establishes an average staggered wage increase for 2006–2007 of €111, divided as follows: €40 from 1 January 2006; €38 from 1 July 2006; and €33 from 1 January 2007. Also provided is a one-off payment or una tantum of €328 to cover the collective-agreement gap between expiry and renewal. The main improvements of the new agreement are the following:

• drafting a joint recommendation for Ministry of Economic Development towards the creation of a permanent commission on energy policy, one of whose tasks will be to verify progress in the sector’s liberalisation since 1999;

• extending the scope of sectoral bargaining to cover issues such as training, employment, working time, contract procurement, safety and equal opportunities, in addition to constant monitoring of the correct application of the national agreement. The overall objective is to improve industrial relations in the sector by reintroducing the practice of prior consultation and encouraging better trade union practices in all companies;

• regulating only for forms of labour market entry envisaged by the 2001–2006 national collective agreement, defining the provisions, workforce percentage and stabilisation rate for each form. Thus, the new types of contract introduced by Law No. 30/2003 reforming the labour market have been effectively put on hold (IT0307204F);

• drafting a joint recommendation requesting the Ministry of Labour to create a single fund to support income and employment in the electricity sector, which will replace the social ‘shock absorbers’ (IT9802319F) provided for by law and intended to protect workers in the event of reduced working time, company restructuring or early retirement;

• starting to experiment with a working hours’ time account or ‘bank’ in relation to working time, as the transition to the 38-hour week, which was begun four years ago, has been completed for all workers;

• relaunching the role of the Workforce Safety Representatives (Rappresentanti dei Lavoratori per la Sicurezza), for which specific training programmes are envisaged;

• initiating talks aimed at designing a job classification system to reflect recent changes and recognise the skills and professionalism of workers;

• delivering a commitment to unite at sectoral level the supplementary social security and healthcare schemes, which now exist only at company level.

Reactions

Workforce assemblies still have to approve the agreement, but all of the actors in the sector have assessed it positively. A joint communiqué by the national secretaries of Filcem, Flaei and Uilcem states that the agreement is ‘an important achievement which rewards, albeit belatedly, the contribution made by workers in the sector to the country and to companies’; regarding its economic part in particular, the communiqué states that ‘the result is outstanding, at the forefront among national agreements’. Presidents of Federutility, Giuliano Zuccoli and Mauro D’Ascenzi, have pointed out that ‘once again, the high degree of responsibility of all actors in the electricity sector is evident’.

Sources

Note: Material for this article has been drawn from the following sources: Il Sole 24 Ore of 19 July 2006, Rassegna Online, text of the agreement, and communiqués by unions and employers.

Edoardo Della Torre, Ires Lombardia