Working Time, Precarious employment, Italy

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 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 strike action on 9 December last year, the four unions that organise in public administration – Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp, Uil-Fpl and Uil-Pa – are continuing to mobilise to secure a new collective agreement and for investment in the modernisation of the sector. The unions are calling for action on staffing not just to increase recruitment overall but also to reduce the extent of precarious contracts and to improve and increase the provision of training. Furthermore, they want measures in place to guarantee workers’ safety in view of the persistence of the pandemic.

The Fp-Cgil, Cisl-FP, Uil-Fpl and Uil-Pa public service federations are mobilising for the national strike on 9 December. The unions say that years of recruitment freezes have created staff shortages and mean that public services need around 500000 extra workers. The unions are also calling for action to increase permanent employment with around 170000 workers on precarious contracts. Health and safety are also vital with unions wanting action on personal protective equipment, reduced workloads and measures to tackle harassment. Finally, the federations are calling for a renewal of the

The Cgil, Cisl and Uil Pa public service federations have declared a one-day strike on 9 December covering public health, and local, regional and central government. New collective agreements are due to be negotiated across these sectors but the unions argue that the government has failed to guarantee funding to cover any negotiated improvements. They also say that there is no commitment from the government to ensure safety at work, to increase employment or to tackle precarious work. Fp-Cgil (IT)

Three trade unions (CGT, FP-CGIL and PCS) representing workers in cultural services in France, Italy and the UK have come together to highlight the urgent need for action to support the sector and tackle poor pay and employment conditions. They argue that the sector has been particularly hard hit by measures to tackle the pandemic and these have been intensified because of the extent of outsourcing and precarious employment. The unions are calling for a strengthening of public culture services, decent and secure employment conditions and action to stop privatisation and outsourcing. CGT (EN

Fourteen years after the last agreement expired and with a national strike threatened for 12 June, the three public service federations – Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Fpl – finally pressured the employers – Aris and Aiop – to sign a new deal covering around 100,000 workers in private healthcare. The main increase of EUR 154 is worth 4.2% but there will also be a EUR 1000 lump sum paid in two stages. The unions say that the agreement will bring private sector workers in line with those in the public sector. There is a broad range of other improvements in the new agreement covering working time

The public service federations - Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Fpl - have signed a new three-year agreement with the Red Cross, running until 2022. The overall pay increase will be around 4.5%, with the increases of €23,56, implemented on 1.12.2020, 1.12.2021 and 1.9.22. There are several other elements in the agreement including strengthening second level bargaining; the recognition of time taken to change into/out of uniforms as working time; the introduction of paid sick leave to look after children and revaluations of certain professions. Other provisions cover allowances for risks such as

The three main trade union confederations - CGIL, CSIL and UIL - have criticised the government for failing to deliver on the additional resources and support needed for health workers as the country prepares to ease lockdown measures. The unions argue that key provisions in the "Care Italy" act have not been implemented leaving health workers still working long shifts, trying to cope with inadequate hospital capacity and all of this without adequate equipment or proper safety protocols - problems that have persisted for three months. The confederations also raise concerns about the pay and

There have been two important developments covering health workers. The first is a new collective agreement after 10 years covering around 130000 doctors and managers in the national health service. The new agreement includes the EUR 200 a month increase enjoyed by public service workers in general but there are additional benefits for young doctors and additional payments linked to length of service. On-call night payments will increase from EUR 50 to EUR 100 (EUR 120 for emergency workers). There will be a joint initiative on well-being and measures to tackle violence against staff. In a

Public services federations in CGIL, CSIL and UIL, representing also workers in third sector social services have negotiated a new agreement with the ANFFAS organisation that represents employers providing disability services. The agreement includes several new features - strengthening trade union relations, improving rules on working hours and sickness, extension of the right to training, improvements to parental leave and work-life balance and measures to restrict flexibility such as a limit on fixed-term contracts. There is an overall pay increase of 5% with an average of EUR 450 paid out

The CGIL, CSIL and UIL federations representing doctors, vets and hospital managers organised a national demonstration on 17 January to highlight the 10-year freeze on collective bargaining in the only public sector agreement that has not been renewed. The unions also complain of excessive working time and massive shortages of staff and now a change in the budget law that effectively blocks renegotiation of the collective agreement. The unions are planning a 24-hour strike on 25 January and further action in February.

The three main unions representing health workers - FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-FPL - have issued a joint call demanding urgent action to tackle doctor shortages across the health service. The three federations are particularly concerned about precarious employment, the need for more specialists and for a recruitment plan for doctors to be put in place as soon as possible. They made their case at a meeting with the Ministry of Health on 30 August where they highlighted the impact of austerity and recruitment freezes which have impacted emergency services above all. The unions have warned for many

The FP-CGIL trade union federation has met with public administration minister Giulia Bongiorno to set out four urgent priorities for action. These involve tackling precarious employment, increasing employment, negotiating the next collective agreement that will cover the years 2019-2021 and ensuring increased investment in staff training. The union argues that it is not enough to simply end the freeze on recruitment as more needs to be done to boost employment or run the risk of a further decline in the quality of services. FP-CGIL also wants a limit on health spending lifted to allow for