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.
