The Draft Agreement for the Renewal of the National Collective Labour Agreement for workers of the private metalworking and mechanical engineering industry was signed on 26 November 2016

The Draft Agreement for the renewal of the National Collective Labour Agreement for the private metalworking and mechanical engineering industry and installation of plants for the four-year period 2016-2019 was signed on 26 November 2016. The main novelties of the agreement include: (i) recognition, as from January 2017, of ex-post rather than ex-ante inflation year-over-year, as a result of which no wage increases were included in 2016 to offset this in part; (ii) salary increases will go into effect as from June each year; (iii) absorption, as from 1 January 2017, of the individual rises in minimum wages recognised after this date, unless they are granted with a non-absorption clause, including fixed collective salary items set forth by company negotiations on the same date excluding amounts relevant to the work services; (iv) lump sum payment of the gross amount of 80 €, with the March 2017 salary; (v) fully variable performance-related company bonuses; (vi) recognition, as from October 2017, of free supplementary health care to all employees and their families; (vii) strengthening of the supplementary pension scheme, increasing  the company contribution to the Cometa fund from 1.6% to 2% of the salary as from June 2017; (viii) simplification and improvement of regulatory provisions (e.g. parental leave, paid leave, working hours, travelling and relocation expenses); (vix) introduction of corporate welfare: 100 Euro from June 2017, 150 Euro from June 2018 and 200 Euro from June 2019.  A referendum among workers on the Draft Agreement is planned towards the middle of December.