International corporations
and EWC-TCA in Italy
Francesco Lauria
Centro Studi N.le Cisl
GDANSK, 2nd February 2016
Project VS/2015/0405
Few words about Cisl
CISL, the second largest (around 4.500.000
members in 2015) Confederation of Trade
Unions in Italy
• Born in 1950, independent and non
ideological
• Cisl National Study Center was created in
1951 (training and research)
• Strong cooperation with Solidarnosc since
the beginning (during the communist period)
Few words about Italian Industrial
Relations
In Italy workers are usually organized
depending on the type of productive activity
exercised by the company for which they
work (trade union for sector or industry).
The collective agreements through which
organised workers express solidarity and
concur to work regulations are therefore,
mainly, the nation wide-sector collective
contract.
Dimensions of the structure
The degree of centralization of the structure and
system of the Italian c.b. is on the middle in the
international ranking.
With the 1993 agreement the decentralization of
the bargaining activity is controlled by the
central level (centralised decentralisation).
After the crisis of 2008, the Italian structure
follows the decentralizing trend of the other
European experiences.(ex banking sector).
Dimensions of the structure
• The Italian structure is two level:
national (intersectoral and industrial) and
local (mainly company).
• The absolute extension (or coverage) of
the structure is high: around the 80% of
the labour force (intersectoral and
industrial agreements). That explains the
high (?) unionization rate (around 30%).
• But only 30/35% of the labour force is
covered also by company agreements.
In the past the effect of the downs was
centralization, but in the era of global markets it
happens exactly the opposite.
A creeping process of erosion of collective
bargaining is possible.
This could be a serious problem where as in Italy
it’s not functioning a system of legal minimum
wage.
In the next months social partners must find
and agreement on the reform of collective
bargaining or the Government will act by him
self.
Italian Multinational Companies
• In 2014 ISTAT (the Italian National Institute of
Statistics) released the results of a research
on Italian multinational companies The
research considered 6,173 Italian multinational
companies and how they have evolved in the
last years.
• Companies have increased their investments
abroad; mainly these investments have been
concentrated in Romania, Brasil and China (two
of these countries are characterized by a very
low cost of labor).
Italian Multinational Companies
• In 2012, 21,830 Italian foreign affiliates
operated in more than 160 countries.
• These enterprises employed more than 1.7
million persons, and generated a turnover of
546 billion euros.
• The economic relevance of these enterprises,
as compared to resident businesses, was equal
to 14.8% of turnover.
Italian Multinational Companies
• In 2012, 21,830 Italian foreign affiliates
operated in more than 160 countries.
• These enterprises employed more than 1.7
million persons, and generated a turnover of
546 billion euros.
• The economic relevance of these enterprises,
as compared to resident businesses, was equal
to 14.8% of turnover.
Italian Multinational Companies
• Italian foreign affiliates in manufacturing accounted for
almost 6,400 enterprises, representing slightly more
than a half of Italian affiliates active in non-financial
services.
• Industrial activities were more remarkable in United
States (124.000 employed by Italian affiliates),
Romania (89000), Brazil (88000) and China (75.000)
• Labour cost in Italian foreign affiliates was particularly
low in China (6.5 thousand euro), India (6.5), Romania
(7.0) while it is higher in the France (56), United States
(50.8) and United Kingdom (50.7).
EWC in Italy
European Society in Italy
EWC representatives in Italy
• The peculiarity in Italy is the fact that, based on
the agreement reached by the parties,
transposed into national legislation, the EWC
are appointed by the trade unions signing
collective agreements in consultation with the
company's trade unions representatives.
• This is very important: the representations are
more experienced in dealing with directions and
more politically formed and their designation
meets needs for balance between the different
unions.
EWC in Italy what to improve…
Problematic flow of information and
coordination between the three union figures
involved in the process: the delegates at the
EWC, representatives of workers and company
officials trade-union counterparts.
The exchange of informations is often limited to
a relationship between delegates and company
representatives without passing with the trade
unionist structures
A best practice
• http://www.unionsnetworksindacale.eu/
• Case studies and intervies with EWC
representatives.
• International network and project
IFAs TCAs with Italian
Multinational Companies
(construction sector)
• Impregilo (November 2004)
• Italcementi (June 2008)
• Salini (2011)
• Merger Salini-Impregilo (2014)
What do TCAs include?
• Respect for freedom of association and the right
to collective bargaining
• Work as free choice (no forced labor, no
retention of passports etc.)
• Equal opportunity and treatment in working
conditions and wages of whatever ethnicity,
religion, skin color (no discrimination)
• Protection of migrant workers and posted
workers (equal pay for equal work)
What do IFAs include?
• No child labour
• Decent wages (written agreements on wage and
working conditions – wage deductions only
those foreseeen by law )
• Respect of working time in accordance with the
Host country law - ok overtime but within certain
limits – at least one day off per week
What do IFAs Tcas include?
•
Health and Safety of workers (working environment safe
and healthy - decent housing - receiving personal
equipment for safety in building-sites - training - risk
prevention - the right to have representatives on the
safety committees)
• Commitment to extend Health and safety principles to
contractors - subcontractors and suppliers (their
participation in meetings, seminars, as well)
What do IFAs-TCA include?
• Workers’ Welfare (drinkable water – canteen –
decent housing - information and prevention of
AIDS/HIV)
• Training (all workers must be entitled to
participate in training programmes – also for
skills - use of new technologies, etc. ..)