Italy : collective agreement in power sector renewed with several innovations

Social partners in Italy’s electric power sector signed a draft deal to renew their collective agreement on 9 October. The agreement applies to some 50,000 workers, including employees of Enel, the energy company that is partly owned by the Italian state, as well as Terna, the transmission system operator in Italy. The new collective agreement, which includes an overall pay rise of 124 euros, seeks to support the sector through the energy transition phase. Other new features include the extension of the agreement’s scope, an individual right to 28 hours of training, a commitment to combat gender violence and the possibility for collective bargaining at company level to trial the conversion of all, or some, of workers' performance bonus into days off, allowing them to convert “money into time”. Applicable retroactively, the agreement is binding for three years, from 2019 to 2021, with the previous deal having expired on 31 December 2018. The agreement is now subject to approval by workers.