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 the trade union or unions with which to enter into negotiations, and even exclude some of them from the negotiations. Likewise, according to the Court, there is no obligation to negotiate separately. In the case at hand, FIOM CIGL filed an action under Art. 28 of Italian Law no. 300/1970 for anti-union behaviour against the employer – that had excluded it from the negotiations for the renewal of the agreement on the performance bonus (negotiations were only with the FIM CISL). In rejecting the claim, the Court pointed out that the employer cannot intervene in inter-union dynamics. Faced with the refusal of the FIM CISL to negotiate jointly, the company legitimately agreed to negotiate the renewal with the only union that had signed the agreement. Moreover, in the Court’s opinion, the requirement of actuality, necessary for the admissibility of proceedings under Art. 28 of Law 300/1970. In fact, once the company contract has been renewed, the interest of the applying trade union has ceased to exist.