THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL DIALOGUE THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE Kiev 5-6 December 2013 Presentation by Cinzia Del Rio

What do we mean by s.d.? Bipartite dialogue employers-trade unions Collective bargaining: agreements on working conditions and terms of employment/regulation of industrial relations Centralized: inter-sectoral multi-employer bargaining (Belgium) Sectoral national bargaining (Italy, Germany) Enterprise-level bargaining (UK, USA)

Public Sector Collective bargaining coverage Tripartite bodies: consultative role in many EU countries European social dialogue: bipartite (ETUC-Business Europe, CEEP, UEAPME) Cross-industry covering whole economy Sectoral covering 40 specific sectors

THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE The Italian trade union pluralism: CGIL CISL UIL, political, cultural and ideological roots; links with political parties The Italian Constitution 1948: freedom of association, right to strike, social partners’ contribution pillar to functioning of society The Workers’ Statute 1970: main achievements, recognition of the trade union activity, anti- discriminatory provisions, protection against unfair dismissals; art. 19 on representativeness (RSU election) The economic situation in the 80s and 90s, role of trade unions and collective bargaining

Main agreements on industrial relations The 1993 Agreement - tripartite Signed by Government and social partners Aims: containment of inflation and control of the public deficit in compliance with the criteria of the Monetary Union 4 areas: income policy; new collective bargaining framework; employment policies, support for the production system

Income policy: Shared common goals, commitment by each party, consistent behaviour of the social partners Concertative method: planned meetings twice a year on macro-economic objectives, level of public spending, programmed rates of inflation; GDP, jobs rate, detailed measures needed to achieve objectives

New collective bargaining framework – private sector Two levels of bargaining: National sector agreements, applicable to all workers of a specific sector: reasons for national contracts Enterprise agreements for specific issues (conditions of work, organisations, working time, delegated issues), productivity Wage setting system: no automatism, no indexation increase; negotiation on planned inflation rate Public sector Creation of a special national agency, negotiation of a national agreement

The new collective bargaining system 2009 and 2011 Bipartite agreements Why a new system? Weakness of the system, impact of the crisis on industrial relations, tensions among T.U Two levels of collective bargaining remain, more delegated issues to enterprise or territorial collective bargaining level Agreed criteria on t.u. representativeness; election of enterprise t.u. units Validity of the agreement, coverage, referendum among workers Wage setting system: according to European inflation rate IPCA, link to productivity RULE OF LAW is essential in any national system

What is happening in Europe? Each country has its own model, not possible to export a codified model! International Institutions can help The impact of the crisis on s.d. systems in EU Austerity measures, fiscal consolidation, structural reforms (labour market, welfare, social security systems-pensions), role ECB, EC, IMF, OECD Decentralization of collective bargaining from national to enterprise level: Greece, Portugal, Spain, Romania

new partners, as NGOs (Hungary) or weakening the decision making role (Romania) wage cut (minimum wage Greece, Ireland and wage agreements Spain, Portugal, Latvia, Romania) Wage setting procedures: decentralization of wage-setting arrangements (Greece, Portugal, Spain, Hungary), individual wage arrangement The public sector: wages, redundancies and cut to public services

Labour market reforms in some European countries Common issues under discussion: increase in labour market divergence: young people, women, long-term unemployment, migrant workers; low-skilled Growing atypical forms of contracts: flexible contracts (limited social security coverage), precarious jobs (no collective bargaining coverage), unvoluntary part-time, abuse in temporary work contracts, etc. Labour market and pension reforms Young people most hit (temporary jobs, NEETs)

Negotiated responses to the crisis are possible and are needed (national and enterprise-level arrangements, some examples in Italy and EU) What we have learned: Inequality fuel distributive conflict Coordinated IR systems facilitate adjustment (tripartite s.d., multi-employer bargaining, procedural clauses can provide certainty) Interest-based negotiations facilitate innovations (e.g. information sharing) Public policy support integrative outcomes (short- time working schemes, training lay-off schemes)

The role of social partners Need to have a legal framework to assure respect of labour rights, T.U. activity, mutual respect and responsability Rule of law: guarantee against external factors (crisis) Capacity to put pressure, negotiate and reach compromise, Capacity to be policy-making actors, defend rights, but propose new policies and measures T.U.: free, independent, have capacities to address economic and social problems T.U. pluralism in Italy is an added value, mutual respect and willingness to reach agreement for the benefit of workers

Thank you Cinzia Del Rio UIL International Dept.