Italy’s CGIL trade union confederation, with the support of the Di Vittorio research foundation, has analysed the content of some 2,168 collective bargaining agreements signed between 2019 and 2021 by social partners at different levels, including company, local and national.
It found that whereas in 2019, the bargaining priorities were similar to those of previous years, from the start of the pandemic ‘emergency’ in 2020 the focus turned more to issues relating to health and safety and work organisation. Since 2021, reorganisation procedures and interventions linked to Covid-19 have figured prominently in trade union demands. The report highlights, for example, a growing number of agreements establishing joint committees to manage the pandemic crisis and agreements on ‘agile working’, including teleworking.
The majority of regional agreements were signed in the north of Italy. A sectoral analysis showed the highest proportion of deals took place in manufacturing (41.5%), followed by the tertiary sector (27.2%) covering banking, insurance, commerce and tourism.
Photo: Marco Merlini