Coletto, Diego

In recent years Electrolux [1], one of the world leaders in the production of electrical household appliances, has carried out various industrial reorganisation plans affecting production at its Italian sites. The most recent plan was announced in 2008 (*IT0810039I* [2]). [1] http://www.electrolux.com/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/electrolux-agrees-restructuring-plan-for-italy

In Italy, the wages guarantee fund [1] (/Cassa Integrazione Guadagni/, CIG), in its various forms, is the most important ‘social shock absorber’, intended to cushion the harmful effects of dismissals or layoffs on workers. It is used where work is partially or temporarily reduced or suspended. The CIG ensures continuity of income and employment of temporarily laid-off workers. It can be applied through two schemes: [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/wages-guarantee-fund-cig

The economic recession has affected the Italian production system in its entirety, albeit to differing extents according to the economic sector, geographical area and company characteristics. In 2009, the Ministry for Economic Development (Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico [1]) established more than 150 discussion tables with the social partners with the aim of finding solutions to corporate and sectoral crises involving more than 300,000 workers. In many cases, these crises have affected large-sized companies, with damaging effects on subcontractors and suppliers. Examples of such crises include the cases of: the telecommunication services provider Eutelia-Agile, the Termini Imerese plant in Sicily of the car manufacturer Fiat (*IT1002019I* [2]), the home and professional appliances manufacturer Electrolux, the healthcare company Glaxo SmithKline, the bathroom suites manufacturer Ideal Standard, the fashion group IT Holding, the telecommunications companies Italtel and Motorola, the furniture manufacturer Natuzzi, the car components manufacturer Oerlikon Graziano, the steel pipes manufacturer Tenaris and the electronic and home appliances manufacturer Videocon (for details, see factsheets [3] of the European Restructuring Monitor [4] (ERM)). [1] http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/fiat-group-announces-two-year-industrial-plan-for-italy [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/search/node/emcc OR erm OR index.php?oldIndex [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-restructuring-monitor

The July 1993 agreement has been regarded as a sort of ‘basic agreement’ for Italian industrial relations, since it ended more than two decades of under-institutionalisation of collective labour relations. The tripartite agreement introduced a number of rules on the coordination of collective bargaining [1], the introduction of strike-free periods during the renewal of collective agreements and plant-level trade union structures. Since the early 2000s, however, the agreement has been at the centre of a wide debate on the opportunity to introduce substantial amendments, which has eventually led to the experimental reform of January 2009 agreed by the social partners, with the notable exception of the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil [2]) (*IT0902059I* [3]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/collective-bargaining [2] http://www.cgil.it/ [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/cgil-refuses-to-sign-agreement-on-collective-bargaining-reform

Article 2 of the 2002 European framework agreement on telework (107Kb PDF) [1] defines telework [2] as follows: [1] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_dialogue/docs/300_20020716_agreement_telework_en.pdf [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/telework

This report describes the current situation in relation to employee financial participation (EFP) in the new Member States of the European Union. It provides a summary of the main findings regarding the incidence of the different forms of E...

On 18 January 2007, the Minister for Reform and Innovation in the Public Administration (Ministro per le riforme e le innovazioni nella pubblica amministrazione), Luigi Nicolais, the Minister of the Economy and Finance (Ministro dell’economia e delle finanze), Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, and the general secretaries of the three main Italian trade union confederations signed a memorandum on the reorganisation of public administration – Memorandum d’intesa su lavoro pubblico e riorganizzazione delle amministrazioni pubbliche (in Italian, 494Kb PDF) [1]. The general secretaries involved included Guglielmo Epifani of the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil [2]), Raffaele Bonanni of the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, Cisl [3]) and Luigi Angeletti of the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil [4]). In Italy, around 3.5 million people currently work in the public sector, of whom about one third work in the education system. [1] http://www.innovazionepa.it/nuovosito/pdf/Memorandum.pdf [2] http://www.cgil.it/ [3] http://www.cisl.it/ [4] http://www.uil.it/

On 14 December 2006, an agreement (in Italian, 118Kb PDF) [1] was reached on the renewal of the pay element of the national collective agreement for local public transport workers. The signatories to the agreement were: the government, the Union of Italian Provinces (Unione delle province d’Italia, Upi [2]), the National Association of Italian Municipalities (Associazione nazionale comuni italiani, Anci [3]), the Association of Local Public Transport Companies (Associazione delle società ed enti del trasporto pubblico locale, Asstra [4]) and the National Association of Passenger Road Transport (Associazione nazionale autotrasporto viaggiatori, Anav [5]); on the trade union side, the signatories included the Italian Federation of Transport Workers (Federazione italiana lavoratori trasporti, Filt-Cgil [6]), the Italian Federation of Transport (Federazione italiana trasporti, Fit-Cisl [7]), the Union of Italian Transport Workers (Unione italiana dei lavoratori dei trasporti, Uiltrasporti-Uil [8]), the National Federation of Transport Workers (Federazione nazionale autoferrotranvieri, Ugl-Autoferrotranvieri [9]) and the Independent Trade Union Federation of Transport Workers (Federazione autonoma italiana sindacale autoferrotranvieri, Faisa-Cisal [10]). [1] http://www.filtcgil.it/documenti/14 dic TPL comunicato unitario accordo biennio economico e revoca sciopero.pdf [2] http://www.upinet.it/ [3] http://www.anci.it/anci.cfm [4] http://www.asstra.it/ [5] http://www.anav.it/ [6] http://www.filtcgil.it/ [7] http://www.fit.cisl.it/Start.asp [8] http://www.uiltrasporti.it/ [9] http://www.autoferrotranvieri.it/ [10] http://www.cisal.org

The end-of-service allowance (/trattamento di fine rapporto/, Tfr) is a proportion of a worker’s wages which, to date, has been set aside by the employer and generally paid to the worker in a lump sum upon termination of employment due to retirement, change of job or dismissal. Each year, the employer sets aside around 7% of the total pay of every employee and, on termination of the employment relationship [1], ‘returns’ the accumulated sum, which is annually revalued according to a guaranteed yield rate calculated on the basis of criteria established by law. The Tfr accrued in the course of the year is annually increased by 1.5%, to which must be added a supplement equal to 75% of the average inflation rate during the year in question. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/employment-relationship

Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited or approved by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.