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7TH MAY 2003 A
NEW SEPARATE AGREEMENT IN ITALIAN METAL INDUSTRY
AFFECTS
RIGHTS AND CONDITIONS OF WORKERS AND
OFFENDS TRADE UNION DEMOCRACY FIOM-CGIL
CALLS ALL METALWORKERS TO FIGHT FOR
A REAL NATIONAL AGREEMENT AND
AGAINST THE WORSENING OF SOCIAL SITUATION On 7th May 2003,
Federmeccanica (organisation of employers in Italian metal industry), Fim-Cisl
and Uilm-Uil signed an agreement to renew the national collective contract. Fiom-Cgil refuses and rejects the
agreement for the following reasons.
- The
regulations provided for by the Law n. 30/2003 and by the legislative decree n.
368 – including the complete insecurity in the labour market, the job
on call, the job leasing, the wholesale deregulation of contract work, the
removal of all obligations and rules for fixed-term work – will be introduced
in the new agreement, as well as the new rules on working time, that is to say the
end of weekly working time limit and the introduction of a multiweekly and
very flexible working time.
- The
present workers’ classification system is brought forward, but in no
way making it clear which will be the future workers’ position and giving a
national selected working party the task of defining a different “menu” from
factory to factory, with the risk that each worker and each factory will have
their classification system and their single pay.
- A
bilateral body – financed with companies’ money – is set up to manage
vocational training and (in the future) the recruitment and to change trade
unions into employment agencies instead of workers’ upholders.
- The
rules of temporary job are made worse: from now on, companies will have
the right to use it also for workers of lower levels of classification.
- Also
the right to education is made worse, because it will be effectively
absorbed by vocational and company oriented training.
-
The increase for missions’ expenses is ridiculously low, while
it is established a form of workers’ availability worse than the
present situation, giving companies the right of command on workers. The rules
for intermittent workers are worsened as well.
- Regarding
health and safety at work, the entire article 27 of the previous
agreement is deleted and a restrictive and worsening interpretation of
legislative decree n. 626 is set up.
-
The same is for all forms of leave with and without pay, provided
for by new laws and introduced in the new agreement in a restrictive and
worsening way.
- Regarding
wages, the employers’ association and the two metalworkers’ trade
unions Fim-Cisl and Uilm-Uil have agreed on a absolutely inadequate increase,
consisting in: Ø
an increase per month of
69,00 euro before tax for workers at 5th level of classification and
of less than 59,00 euro before tax for workers at 3rd level (the most
common level for blue collars); Ø
an advance of the future
wages’ increase for 2005 and 2006 (21,00 euro per month before tax for workers
at 5th level and 16,00 euro per month before tax for workers at 3rd
level); this advance will be paid at the end of 2004; Ø
a staggered one-off payment
of 220,00 euro before tax. All summed up, the real
wages’ increase (staggered in two steps, July 2003 and February 2004) will
be of 69,00 euro per month before tax; as a matter of fact 21,00 euro are in
advance for the next agreement and this amount will be subtracted from the
requests in future negotiations. The same trick of 2001, when Italian
metalworkers lost 18.000 Italian lire (about 9,00 euro); in 2005 they will have
to give up 21,00 euro. Fiom-Cgil is against this
agreement because it is only for imposing the laws of Berlusconi Government
affecting workers’ rights and conditions. With regard to wages’ increase
of 69,00 euro, it is extremely low, very far from the starting requests
(Fim-Cisl and Uilm-Uil request was of 92,00 euro, while Fiom-Cgil request was
and is of 135,00 euro per month) and largely below what agreements in other
sectors have decided. In the last weeks, the three main Italian trade unions
have jointly signed agreements for wages’ increases for public employees
(108,00 euro per month), for railway employees (115,00 euro per month), for
dustmen (129,00 euro per month), for teachers (147,00 euro per month), for
executive and business staff (260,00 euro per month). Why in the metal industry
it has been impossible to agree a higher increase? With this agreement, Fim-Cisl and
Uilm-Uil have planned the reduction of the purchasing power of Italian
metalworkers’ wages and have accepted the employers’ ideas about job
flexibility and insecurity, low wages, reduction of bargaining power of works
councils (RSU) and, above all, reduction of role and function of national
collective contract. What the employers proposed –
and what the other trade unions decided to accept – is not a real agreement,
but the transfer into the national contract of the Pact for Italy
(signed separately last year by Berlusconi Government, the employers’
association Confindustria and the trade unions Cisl and Uil at confederal level,
but not by Cgil), including the new rules on labour market against which Italian
workers have clearly fought for months and months. Fim-Cisl and Uilm-Uil have
accepted such a platform and have endorsed the employers’ approach. They did
it refusing any rule of trade union democracy and not allowing workers to vote
on their agreement. Fiom-Cgil has more than 360.000 members, while the other
two trade unions together have less than 280.000 members. Fim-Cisl and Uilm-Uil
represent the minority of Italian metalworkers but they think they can decide
for all. In this way, they are justifying such a great attack of the
employers to the national collective bargaining level and to the power of trade
unions. We want to underline that we keep
maintaining our requests, approved and voted by more that 450.000
metalworkers. Fiom-Cgil will go on demanding: Ø
higher wages’ increases to
acknowledge the real value of work in metal industry; Ø
new and well settled rules
against the job insecurity; Ø
improvement of workers’
rights and conditions; Ø
improvement of workers’
classification system and working time. Fiom-Cgil asks Italian
metalworkers to fight for their contract and for their rights. On 16th
May 2003 hundreds of thousands of metalworkers went on strike and demonstrated
throughout Italy for an effective renewal of the national contract. We will
go on very close to workers until our goal is reached. NO
TO THE SEPARATE AGREEMENT!
YES
TO A REAL NATIONAL CONTRACT,
YES
TO THE WORKERS’ RIGHTS,
YES TO TRADE UNION DEMOCRACY! |