Italy: Fim and Uilm unions sign agreement allowing businesses to derogate from the metal national collective agreement

After less than two weeks of negotiations (see our dispatch No. 100608), the Fim and Uilm for unions and Federmeccanica and Assistal for employers signed, yesterday in Rome, at the Confindustria’s headquarters, the expected agreement on the guidelines for exceptions, at company level, to the metal CCN.  This one-page long document provides for the introduction of an article entitled “understanding about CCN amendments” into the CCN renewed without the Fiom-CGIL with the separate agreement of October 15, 2009 (see our dispatch No. 090945).  The Fim and Uilm said this was an “important agreement which defends and strengthens the CCN, giving company bargaining an additional resource to defend and favor employment and better deal with crises.”  Federmeccanica’s leader, Pierluigi Caccardi, also said this was a “good agreement” and pointed out that it was useful for the 12,000 associated companies, not only for Fiat.  Indeed, this agreement came one month before the deadline given by Fiat’s managing director, Sergio Marchionne, who threatened to leave Confindustria if normative framework wasn’t established by the end of October to allow him to effectively enforce his restructuring program for the Pomigliano d’Arco site (see our dispatch No. 100480).  The efficiency of this agreement will be assessed by the social partners six months before the end of the CCN.  They will meet again on October 11th and 13th to rule on conciliation, arbitration and the role of equal organizations, and they will define matters pertaining to local collective agreements before the end of the year to avoid doubloons with the CCN.