Gas, Work-life balance, Italy

The Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Fpl public service federations have finalised a new collective agreement covering around 15000 managers in local and regional government and the health service. The agreement covers the period 2016-2018 and includes a pay rise of 3.48% which follows the other public sector agreements for that period. Apart from pay, there are provisions covering trade union relations, work-life balance and leave arrangements, including support for women who are victims of violence. The agreement also establishes a joint body to look at innovation and service improvement and there

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

Trade unions representing workers in the electricity, gas and water sectors organised a day of strike action on 17 December. The unions are concerned that changes to procurement rules will lead to more outsourcing and so threaten jobs, pay and conditions and the quality of services. Meanwhile, unions organising in the private health sector began a series of regional actions with a strike in Lazio on 14 December as part of a campaign to secure a new sector agreement covering 150000 workers. It is 12 years since the last agreement was negotiated.