Transcript Collective bargaining

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
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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, antidiscriminatory 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
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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 (shorttime working schemes, training lay-off schemes)
The role of social partners
• Need to have a legal framework to assure respect of labour
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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.
[email protected]