Contracts, all the errors of Confcommercio and Federdistribuzione
What happens for the renewal of the national trade and dmo contract. The point of Mario Sassi , author of the Blog-notes on work
Two weeks after the strike on 22 December called by the three trade unions, nothing concrete has moved. The declarations of availability of the employers' associations of these hours leave the time they find. Patrizia De Luise, President of Confesercenti began, Donatella Prampolini, Vice President of Confcommercio continued and, finally, the press release from Federdistribuzione arrived. All, unfortunately, out of time.
What hasn't been done in four years would suddenly become feasible in two weeks and only after the strike was declared. Obviously no one believes it. On the part of the employers' associations there is a legitimate desire to "deflate" participation in the strike as much as possible and avoid being pushed into a corner by public opinion with the accusation of "social insensitivity". Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo a few days after the signing of the bankers' contract, beyond the consistency of the increase agreed with the unions, which is unthinkable in business, stated: "you have to demonstrate to your people that you take care of them ”. Words which, among other things, many large-scale retail and trade companies in general absolutely agree with.
In reality, the associations and the unions themselves missed the opportunity to close the game when, a few months ago, the conditions for a balanced conclusion of the national contract had matured. The IPCA had not yet emerged to the extent that it later emerged, the social climate in the country still signaled a generalized underestimation of contracts and renewals that had been stopped for some time, the discussion on the minimum wage had not yet risen in tone and Landini had not decided, together with Bombardieri, no tug-of-war with the Government. Federdistribuzione, probably after having long demanded a "distinctiveness" of its CCNL, which still remains a simple copy of the Confcommercio one, seemed to be satisfied with some adjustments (downwards) to the role of store managers and little more, in exchange for moderation on salary demands.
Confcommercio, completely getting the timing wrong, thought it could reiterate, out of time, innovations that were nothing more than trying to take back with the right hand what was barely conceded with the left. Perhaps the competition with Federdistribuzione had an impact. The context that was developing was certainly underestimated. There the requests were reiterated on some contractual institutions which, for the confederation of Piazza Belli, would have to be modified. Provocative for Filcams CGIL but equally indigestible for Uiltucs UIL and Fisascat CISL.
Without trade union interlocutors available for mediation, Confcommercio and Federdistribuzione, together with the other protagonists, did not have the sensitivity to understand in time the change in the social climate that was taking hold in the country. The signs of young people's disaffection with the quality of the work offered, the increase in resignations and the growing inflation not only affected consumers but also workers in the sector. The controversy over poor work which, in addition to logistics, dangerously borders on the boundaries of the sector, bringing to the agenda both the famous "pirate" contracts but also a dangerous contamination by the grassroots trade unionism advocated by COBAS which tends to fit into the contradictions which, a negotiation that began badly and continued even worse, determines…
It was not taken into account that, for example, on the trade union side none of the three organizations boasts strong leadership recognized by the other two acronyms. Which in the past had allowed negotiations to progress during difficult times. Thus, on the employers' side, the permanent climate of competitiveness between the various associations and the desire to exercise leadership, indigestible to others, on the part of Confcommercio, did the rest.
The conclusion or otherwise of a national contract depends on a precise common political will. Not from accounting calculations or last-minute raises. It cannot be a request for the other party to "surrender" to their own reasons. The phrase that has been circulating in recent days "We want to close the contract, they (the unions) don't", an expert negotiator would never pronounce. A negotiation is a free agreement between equal interlocutors. It is not a “take it or leave it”, an imposition of one party on the other. Either there is an agreement or there is no contract.
It is clear to everyone that this will not be a contract renewal that will go down in history for the innovations it contains. It will be a contract that will, in fact, focus on the size of the salary increase. It will be evaluated by biased observers on the mathematical distance with respect to the IPCA. And this reduces the field of possible mediations. The rest will have to wait for better times. In the declarations we will still have, at the first level, "the manager or manager of a shop, branch, or food supermarket even if integrated in a department store or single-price warehouse" at the second the "concept correspondent with or without knowledge of languages foreign", in the third the "shorthand typist in foreign languages" and the "specialized sales assistant also experienced in the food sector".
No one has had the courage in these long four years to get involved. Now it's late. The same applies to the rules that are widely outdated in everyday life on allowances, timetables, constraints and various aspects which the unions know very well that they no longer have any reason to exist in real life but which if formally attacked, on the one hand, at headquarters of contractual renewal, are formally defended by the other. Everything contributes to preferring that nothing changes. So everyone, in their own home, does and says what they want.
Unfortunately, however, this is how the national contract loses, even without wanting to, its raison d'être. If it weren't for the bilateralism and the interests it drives, the CCNL if this drift continues will increasingly resemble a minimum wage, even if called something else. Its renovation and modernization is therefore not on the agenda. To avoid or at least mitigate the effect of the strike, Carlo Alberto Buttarelli, despite knowing that he too was out of time, attempted a relaunch by speaking to Rita Querzé of Corriere della Sera , declaring his willingness to "recover the IPCA and put on the table « important resources." And finally to clear the air regarding the questioning of severance pay, 14th salary or seniority: «An intervention on acquired rights has never been proposed» he concluded. Prampolini of Confcommercio said the exact opposite just a few days ago. Let them reach an agreement at least at the level of Presidents. Since this contract is one and three.
“Either they all close or none of them close.” This is the undeniable truth. Perhaps December 22nd is too close to allow a common rethink and a final agreement. Maybe it's not even fair to expect it. But one thing is certain. This contract must be closed.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/contratti-tutti-gli-errori-di-confcommercio-e-federdistribuzione/ on Sun, 10 Dec 2023 06:28:08 +0000.