Industrial relations, reorganisations and restructuring

De Luca & Partners has a unique (and widely recognized) experience in the field of trade union relations, initiated by it’s Founder, Vincenzo De Luca, who has personally been involved in the history of Italian trade unions since the ’60s and ’70s by assisting the major operators of national entrepreneurship and multinationals since they emerged in Italy’s production sector.

The specific skills and abilities of the Founding Partner together with those developed through years of experience by the Partner and Associates, have made De Luca & Partners, since its conception, one of the leading players in it’s field.

The assistance provided by De Luca & Partners (daily involvement in complex operations in which trade union relations play a central and decisive role) is not only limited to the technical aspects, but goes as far as to define and decide strategic choices and direct discussions with trade unions, in the management of collective labour problems and increasingly, due to the current recessionary conditions, in the analysis of real scenarios of social emergency.

De Luca & Partners focuses on the loyalty and seriousness of the discussions and on extreme fairness in relation to counterparts, as necessary prerequisites to allow the achievement of the contractual objectives identified with the client.

De Luca & Partners has always been regularly involved in the reorganization and restructuring of companies and directly involved in related industrial relations, providing regular assistance and advice to national and international clients on all aspects related to restructuring procedures, such as:

  • the definitions of responsibilities;
  • negotiations with the trade unions;
  • relations with public bodies (Ministry of Labour, Regions, etc.);
  • formalising the sale;
  • application of social security benefits (ee: redundancy fund).

Partners and Associates have always assisted their clients:

  • in union negotiations, when requested and
  • negotiating and entering into trade union agreements aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the company.

Assistance with staff reduction and restructuring procedures accounts for over 30% of our business.

De Luca & Partners’ lawyers have assisted clients in more than 350 small and large restructuring operations

In every case, an agreement was reached with the trade unions and no disputes arose with any of the workers involved.

Related insights

29 January 2025

Data protection and collective agreements: provisions of national collective agreements that breach data protection rules should be disapplied

In its judgment of December 19, 2024,  case C-65/23, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that (i) the provisions of national collective labor agreements must…

30 September 2022

Unilateral termination of an enterprise bargaining agreement is anti-union (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 162 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Elena Cannone)

By an order of 25 April 2022, the Court of Bologna held that the early termination by the employer, effective immediately, of the financial aspects of an enterprise…

28 April 2022

CBA – Tacit acceptance and acceptance by conduct (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 159 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Elena Cannone)

In ruling no. 95/2022, the Court of Vicenza held that the acceptance of a collective agreement may be tacit or by conduct, i.e., by actually applying its terms.…

31 March 2022

Business transfer: RSA does not automatically lapse (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 158 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Elena Cannone)

In a judgement of 21 December 2021, the Court of Milan held that, unless specifically stated otherwise in applicable law, a business transfer does not affect the continuity…

28 February 2022

The employer can choose the trade union with which to negotiate (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 157 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Elena Cannone)

By Order no. 1621/2021 of 30 December, the Court of Padua stated that there is no general obligation on the employer to negotiate: the employer may legitimately choose…

31 January 2022

Continuance in effect: National Collective Labour Agreement effective until conclusion of a new one (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 156 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Elena Cannone)

By Order no. 40409/2021 dated 28 October 2021, lodged on 16 December 2021, the Court of Cassation reconfirmed the general principle that as collective agreements governed by ordinary…