It is discriminatory to subject the renewal of a cooperation agreement to acceptance of the applicable collective bargaining agreement (Newsletter Norme & Tributi n. 152 Camera di Commercio Italo-Germanica – Vittorio De Luca, Elena Cannone)

On 12 April 2021, the Palermo Court ruled that early withdrawal by a food delivery company from a fixed term cooperation agreement with a rider was invalid,  as it was the direct consequence of his refusal to accept the governing conditions of the collective agreement chosen by the company and signed by trade unions he had not joined. Citing supreme court case law on subjective effectiveness of collective agreements, the Court observed that under our industrial relations system a worker is not required to passively accept an unsatisfactory union agreement. The Court held that the company could only exercise early withdrawal in fairness and good faith, principles that were not observed as the termination was not “needed” and the non-continuation of the relationship evidently constituted “discrimination on trade union grounds”. The company was ordered to reinstate the worker at the same contractual conditions, pay the wages he would have received from unlawful termination to effective reinstatement and compensate non-material damage.