Precarious employment, Central government, Italy

Following the strike action on 17 November, the Fp-Cgil, Uil-Pa and Uil-Fpl trade union federations were set to organise a national protest outside the Ministry of Economy and Finance on 7 December. The unions are calling on the government to change the budget law for 2024 to ensure funding for renewing collective agreements and providing protection for workers’ purchasing power. They also highlight the failure of the government to tackle staff shortages or make any preparation for the fact that around 700,000 workers are due to retire by the year 2030. Meanwhile, both Fp-Cgil and Uil-Fpl

Alongside action by the CGIL and UIL confederations, the CISL trade union confederation is planning a national protest in Rome on 25 November over the government’s budget for 2024 and its refusal to engage with the trade unions. Together with demands for increased funding for public services, CISL wants to see action on staffing and measures to reduce precarious work. It also wants the government to commit to negotiating new collective agreements in the public sector. The mobilisations by UIL and CGIL continue with regional stoppages planned for 24 and 27 November and 1 December.

The three public service federations – FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-PA – continue to mobilise their members in both the Ministry of Justice and the INAIL institute that provides compensation for workplace accidents. While progress has been made at the Ministry of Justice and some agreements signed the unions are concerned that there is no further commitment to negotiate on a new collective agreement and on some specific issues such as smart working. Meanwhile, at the INAIL members of FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-PA have organized actions around the country, including an occupation of the main offices

The FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-PA trade union federations are coordinating a national protest of workers in the Ministry of Justice on 10 March in order to put pressure on the ministry to negotiate with the unions over a range of measures essential to improve services. The unions highlight the need to increase staffing through an emergency recruitment plan along with action on pay and conditions, career development and initiatives to reduce precarious work. The unions have been raising all these issues for months but have received no response or indication of a willingness to negotiate.

The FP-CGIL, UIL-PA and UIL-FPL public service federations are planning a week of action from 12-16 December with protests and strikes around the country in protest at the government’s budget for 2023. The unions argue that the budget fails to provide adequate funding across a range of services with nothing to address the cost-of-living crisis, to cover the renewal of collective agreements, to increase public employment, to end precarious contracts, to improve training and to ensure quality of services from childcare to health and social care and across local and national administration. The

The FSC-CCOO, FeSP-UGT and other unions in the ministry of justice in Spain have been protesting to demand negotiations over the impact of legislation on organisational efficiency in the justice sector. The unions coordinated a demonstration outside the ministry on 22 November to highlight their concerns that the law doesn’t guarantee rights in relation to mobility, promotion, remuneration and other labour issues and that it poses a risk to jobs and the quality of service. Above all the unions want to ensure that all these questions are the subject of negotiation. Meanwhile, in Italy the three

Following their action in July, employees of the Ministry of Defence mobilised again on 28 September to voice their concerns over understaffing and the threat of privatisation. The public service federations – FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-PA – coordinated the action which called for an emergency recruitment plan and measures to address concerns about restructuring, changes to pay tables, implementation of the collective agreement, agile work (form of telework) and proper consultations with and participation of the trade unions.

The FP-CGIL, CISL-FP, UIL-FPL and UIL-PA public service federations are mobilising their members in protests in two sectors – health and social care and the justice ministry. The national health and social care protest on 29 October will be calling for increased funding, more jobs and better pay and conditions. The unions argue that it is all very well for the EU-backed national reform and resilience plans to support investment in new facilities, but the challenge will be to find the workers to staff them. Meanwhile, the federations have declared a state of agitation in the justice ministry as

Members of the Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp and Uil-Pa public service federations have been mobilising across the Ministry of Culture in protests over staff shortages and other issues, including application of the new collective agreement, remote work regulations and health and safety. The unions want to see an extraordinary recruitment plan implemented and warn of national strike action in September if the Ministry doesn’t respond. Meanwhile, members of the three federations in the Ministry of Defence are also mobilising over staff shortages and the impact of privatisation along with concerns about

The public service federations – Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp and Uil-Pa – have negotiated a three-year agreement covering the period 2018-21 that will see pay rise by between 4.2% and 5.6% with the lower pay scales getting the higher increases. The trade unions have also welcomed changes to the occupational classification system and pay structure, strengthening of relations with trade unions, changes to leave arrangements to help victims of gender-based violence and new rules on smart work and telework.

The Fp-Cgil public service federation, along with the Fisascat-Cisl and Uiltucs trade unions, has signed a three-year agreement covering around 50,000 health and social care workers employed by ecclesiastical organisations. The agreement is backdated to 2020 and runs to 2022 with a pay increase of on average €95 paid in two instalments – €50 in December 2021 and €45 in December 2022. The agreement also provides improvements in certain job classifications, maternity leave and leave to look after sick children. There will also be a cap on the use of fixed-term contracts. Meanwhile a new

The main public service federations have signed a preliminary agreement covering the 250000 staff in central government for the three-year period 2019-2021. After eight months of negotiations and 25 meetings, the agreement delivers an average pay increase of €90 a month backdated to 1 January 2021 in a deal worth around 5%. The agreement also covers a range of areas including remote work, parental leave, support for women who are victims of violence and new procedures covering progression through pay grades. Meanwhile, Fp-Cgil and Uil-Fpl have signed an agreement with the ARIS private health

The three public service federations – Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Pa – organised two days of protests on 13 and 14 October in Naples, Milan and Rome. The mobilisation was about the crisis facing the justice sector with serious staffing shortages and excessive workloads, compounded by inadequate facilities and equipment. The unions argue that workers have been left out of the justice debate as politicians focus on legal reform while ignoring the situation facing the staff who are supposed to uphold and implement the law. Further mobilisations are planned if there is no response from the minister

During the second round of negotiations in central government the trade unions raised a number of issues that they want to see addressed. This includes the need to carry out a detailed review of the measures on worker and trade union participation introduced in the last national collective agreement (2016-2018) and to ensure their full effectiveness and enforceability to strengthen the involvement of employees and their representatives in organisational matters that impact on the employment relationship. This includes, for example, the workings of the joint innovation committee that will deal

The three public service federations – Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp and Uil-Pa – have set out the main aims for the new round of collective bargaining in central government. The federations are positive about the negotiations taking place in the framework of the pact for innovation in public services agreed recently with the government. The unions have a broad range of issues that they want to see addressed including: a revision of the staff classification and grading system; a review of pay and career progression; improved industrial relations and information and consultation; strengthening supplementary