Italy
Private health negotiations get going again
Following a meeting with the health ministry earlier this month, negotiations between unions and the private sector health employers have restarted and a timetable of weekly meetings foreseen. The unions were becoming frustrated by the refusal of the two employer organisations to negotiate a renewal of the sector agreement which has been effectively frozen for over 12 years.
Health unions hope to negotiate but maintain strike threat
Unions representing workers in the private health sector - Fp-Cgil, Cisl-Fp and Uil-Fpl - have welcomed the initiative of the health ministry to convene a meeting with the employer organisations - Aris and Aiop - on 17 September. The unions say they are ready to start negotiations immediately and finally deliver a new collective agreement after 13 years for the 300000 workers in the sector. The regional authorities responsible for healthcare have indicated their support for the negotiations but the unions say it is up to Aris and Aiop to show their commitment. The unions are planning strike
Energy unions welcome three-year agreement on bonuses
The three energy unions - FILCTEM-CGIL, FLAEI-CISL and UILTEC-UIL - are very positive about a new three-year agreement on performance bonuses negotiated with the ENEL energy company. The agreement will see bonus payments increase by 6% overall - 3% in 2019, 2% in 2020 and 1% in 2021. The agreement also resolves some anomalies affecting middle managers and provides better protection for workers whose bonuses might be affected by maternity or paternity leave.
Social workers to strike over staff shortages and overwork
The FP-CGIL public services federation has called a strike of social workers in Naples on 27 August in protest at the failure of the local administration to address the drastic shortage of staff in the city. There are only 126 social workers serving a population of just under a million and the union says that at least an additional 55 are needed. The administration has said it will only recruit around 40 staff in 2021-22 whereas the situation is set to worsen before then as some of the current staff retire.
Union criticises agency for lack of progress with negotiations
The FP-CGIL public service federation has criticised the employers' negotiating body, ARAN, for failing to make progress on a new collective agreement covering managers and professionals in public administration. The union has a clear set of demands relating to trade union representation, salary protection in cases of restructuring, severance pay, the salary structure and working hours. It hopes that these will be addressed by the new president of ARAN.
Positive bargaining developments for health workers
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
Unions continue fight for new private health agreement
The FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-FPL public service federations are continuing their campaign to force the AIOP and ARIS private health employer organisations to negotiate a collective agreement 12 years after the last one was signed. The latest initiative follows a meeting with the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces where the unions secured a commitment to push for a change in legislation on the accreditation of private providers that would require them to negotiate a collective agreement with the three recognised trade unions in line with the negotiations in the public sector.
Ministry of Justice workers to strike
The Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uil Pa public service trade unions are organising strike action in the Ministry of Justice on 28 June. The unions say that the action is necessary to force the government to act to address massive staff shortages. By 2021 the Ministry will face a 50% staff shortfall, compounded by an ageing workforce. The unions also say that the situation is not helped by the fact that justice workers are among the worst paid in the public sector.
Unions take private health dispute to ministry
The public service federations - FP-CGIL, CISL-FP and UIL-FPL- organised a rally in Rome outside the health ministry on 23 May and sent a delegation to talk to the health minister about the continuing dispute in the private health sector. The unions want a resolution to the dispute over the failure of the two employer organisations - ARIS (religious health institutions) and AIOP (private sector hospitals) - to negotiate a new collective agreement for the sector. The last agreement was signed 12 years ago. The unions want the health ministry to put pressure on the employers to negotiate and to
Unions set out key demands to private health employers
The presidents and general secretaries of the three main public service federations - FP-CGIL, UIL-FPL and CISL-FP - met with representatives of the two main private health employers' organisations, AIOP and ARIS on 3 May. The meeting was an attempt to resolve a conflict and negotiate the renewal of the collective agreement that was last negotiated 12 years ago. The unions want pay in the private sector aligned with that in the public health collective agreement. They also want a national agreement and so no regional variations. The talks are now suspended while the unions wait for the
Private health care workers call for sector-wide agreement
Five workers from the private health sector spoke at the rally on 15 April calling for a new agreement for the sector, 12 years after the last one was signed. The five workers - including nurses, a hospital manager and disability care worker - spoke about the challenges of surviving on pay levels unchanged for more than a decade and in the case of one for 17 years. Along with this they often face increasing work pressures as a result of staff shortages and even have to pay for their own training. In one hospital a nurse starts on only EUR 1350 a month and an experienced nurse gets only EUR
Rally of private health care workers
The leaders of the three main trade union confederations - CGIL, CSIL and UIL - joined a major rally in Rome on 15 April for workers in private health care. The three federations representing the 300000 workers in the sector called the rally to discuss the next steps in their campaign to negotiate a new sector agreement, 12 years after the last one was signed. The federations highlight the heavy workloads and precarious employment conditions being faced by many private health workers. The unions are angry that after a year of negotiations, the two employer organisations - ARIS and AIOP - have
Capacity building project for the hospital sector in Central, East and Southern Europe started
On 28 March 2019 EPSU participated, together with its representatives of the two national affiliates from Romania, Sanitas, and Croatia, HSSMS-MT, in the kick-off meeting of the joint HOSPEEM-EPSU project focusing on strengthening social dialogue in the hospital sector that will run in 2019 and 2020.
Tax workers plan action on 2 April
The unions representing workers at the Revenue Agency, including Fp Cgil, Cisl Fp and Uilpa, are planning a national strike on 2 April in protest at the failure to pay additional payments to 30000 employees. The additional payments date back to 2016 and 2017 and the Agency has repeatedly failed to justify the reasons for the delay in payment. Even during recent compulsory arbitration the Agency couldn't explain the delay or commit to a payment date and so the unions agreed that they had to resort to strike action.