CONFINDUSTRIA: THE CONFERENCES IN VICENZA, TREVISO AND PADUA.
Tomorrow sees the major rally on the eve of the new national negotiations for Federmeccanica: this is the decisive round of talks – ‘Collective bargaining: it’s time to change the rules’ Vescovi, Piovesana and Finco are calling the 6,000 members to Marghera to urge industry leaders and trade unions to take the plunge: flexible agreements to restore competitiveness to businesses and secure pay rises for workers
Changing relations between employers and workers in businesses across the North-East: ‘We need to reduce the economic scope of the national collective agreement, which effectively dictates 95 per cent of the pay that goes into employees’ pay packets.’ This is the watchword of the General Assembly to be held tomorrow in Marghera, which will bring together all members of the Vicenza, Treviso and Padua branches of Confindustria – organisations that, two years ago, created the ‘Open System’ to facilitate the free movement of the 6,000 member companies between the various offices and services on offer. And although the tone and vehemence of the speeches vary according to the different personalities, the aim of changing the Italian collective bargaining system is what strongly unites the three presidents: Luciano Vescovi (Vicenza), Maria Cristina Piovesana (Treviso) and Massimo Finco (Padua) – who joined via video link from Hanover yesterday – in launching tomorrow’s event at the Pala ExpoVenice, “where I hope to see,” Finco emphasises, “at least 2,000 of our members. ‘Because only in this way can we make ourselves heard by our counterparts.’ Why does the structure of contracts in Italy need to change? Vescovi explains it with figures: ‘Unit labour costs in Italy have risen by 34.7 per cent since 2000, whilst in France they have fallen by 2.3 per cent, in Germany by 0.2 per cent and in the UK by 5.4 per cent. Over the last three years, the industrial sector here has generally granted pay rises of 6 per cent, calculated on the basis of projected inflation, despite the reality of deflation. These are figures, not words.
