Working Paper No. 5O International Labour Office (ILO) DIALOGUE Route des Morillons 4 CH -1211 Geneva 22 Switzerland Coping with the crisis in Italy: Tel.: (+41 22) 799 70 35 Fax: (+41 22) 799 87 49 Employment relations [email protected] www.ilo.org/dial and social dialogue amidst the recession Roberto Pedersini Marino Regini Project financed by the European Commission September 2013 Governance and Tripartism ISSN 2226-7433 DIALOGUE Department Working Paper No. 50 Project financed by the European Commission Coping with the crisis in Italy: Employment relations and social dialogue amidst the recession Roberto Pedersini Marino Regini Governance and Tripartism Department International Labour Office • Geneva September 2013 Copyright © International Labour Organization 2013 First published 2013 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. 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ILO Cataloguing in Publication Data Pedersini, Roberto; Regini, Marino Coping with the crisis in Italy: employment relations and social dialogue amidst the recession / Roberto Pedersini, Marino Regini ; International Labour Office, – Geneva: ILO, 2013 DIALOGUE working paper; No.50 ISSN 2226-7433; 2226-7840 International Labour Office labour relations / social dialogue / collective bargaining / social implication / economic recession / Italy 13.06.1 The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. ILO publications and electronic products can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or direct from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH–1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address, or by email: [email protected] Visit our web site: www.ilo.org/publns Printed in Switzerland Foreword This paper is part of a series of studies funded by the European Commission in the framework of a project of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on “Promoting a balanced and inclusive recovery from the crisis in Europe through sound industrial relations and social dialogue”. The project falls under a recent partnership agreement between the ILO and the European Commission, which aims to study the impact of the crisis and crisis-response policies on national tripartite social dialogue, collective bargaining and labour law in the member States of the ILO and the European Union (EU), and the role of social dialogue actors and institutions in this context. The project builds on ILO research initiated since 2008 on best practices in the area of crisis responses, and the Global Jobs Pact adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2009. This study on Italy by Roberto Pedersini and Marino Regini (University of Milan, Italy) shows that the initial responses to the economic crisis in Italy were designed with the participation of the social partners and focused on supporting small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs). At the local level, an agreement was concluded between the Government and the regional administrations to strengthen the Wages Guarantee Fund (CIG), a special public fund used to protect workers’ income. The authors contend that the measures were successful in retaining employment and demonstrated the ability to address challenges through social concertation. As the economic crisis persisted and the sovereign debt crisis emerged, structural adjustment measures were deemed necessary and social dialogue became less resilient. Substantial reforms were enacted under both the Berlusconi and Monti Governments, namely the pension and labour market reform. The reform of the collective bargaining structure was not driven by the economic crisis; however, it did significantly influence the implementation of the reform. The industrial relations climate in Italy has been affected by the divergences between the major trade union confederations, the tougher stance of the employers’ association, and the unilateral action taken by major companies such as Fiat. The authors argue that the declining role of national and industry-wide bargaining may significantly change the Italian industrial relations landscape in the years to come. This emerging trend of decentralized bargaining will most likely continue even when economic recovery has been achieved. An earlier version of the paper was presented and debated at the ILO-EU research workshop on “The governance of policy reforms in Europe: Social dialogue actors and institutions in times of economic downturn and austerity” (28-29 May 2012, Geneva, Switzerland). The responsibility for opinions expressed in this paper rests solely with its authors, and its publication does not constitute an endorsement by the Governance and Tripartism Department of the International Labour Office, or the European Commission. Moussa Oumarou Director, Governance and Tripartism Department iii Contents Foreword .............................................................................................................................. iii Acronyms ............................................................................................................................. vi Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 2. Main features of industrial relations in Italy and its most important players ................ 2 2.1 Representation .................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Collective bargaining .......................................................................................... 3 2.3 Tripartite concertation ......................................................................................... 4 3. The economic crisis and the labour market .................................................................. 6 3.1 Dealing with a dualist labour market and welfare regime ................................. 9 4. Policy measures and social concertation ..................................................................... 13 4.1 The Wage Guarantee Fund ............................................................................... 14 4.2 Other measures, wage freeze and suspension of collective bargaining in public administrations, and broad-range reforms ......................................... 15 5. Bipartite social dialogue and collective bargaining .................................................... 20 5.1 The decentralization of the bargaining structure .............................................. 20 5.2 The 28 June 2011 intersectoral agreement and Article 8 .................................. 21 5.3 The Pact on Productivity of November 2012 ................................................... 22 6. Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 25 References ........................................................................................................................... 28 v Acronyms ABI Associazione Bancaria Italiana (Italian Banking Association) AGCI Associazione Generale Cooperative Italiane (General Association of Italian Cooperatives) ANIA Associazione Nazionale fra le Imprese Assicuratrici (National Association of Insurance Companies) CGIL Confederazione generale italiana del lavoro (General Confederation of Italian Workers); CISL Confederazione italiana sindacati lavoratori (Italian Confederation of Workers’ Trade Unions) Confindustria Confederazione Generale dell’Industria Italiana (General Confederation of Italian Industry) EU European Union FIOM Federazione impiegati e operai metallurgici (Federation of White and Blue-Collar Metalworkers) INPS Istituto nazionale della previdenza sociale (National Institute of Social Security) Istat Istituto nazionale di statistica (Italian National Institute of Statistics) OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Develoment RSA Rappresentanze sindacali aziendali RSU Rappresentanze sindacali unitarie SME Small and medium-sized enterprise UGL Unione Generale del