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.

On May 2020, the Decree Law no. 34 of 19 May 2020 was published in Official Gazette no. 128 containing “Urgent measures for healthcare, employment, the economy, and social policies related to COVID-19” (“Relaunch Decree”). The Relaunch Decree amends and supplements the Law converting the Save Italy Decree (Law 27, 24 April 2020), mainly for conservative social protection, such as the Ordinary Redundancy Fund (CIGO) and ordinary allowance (“FIS”) for COVID 19-related events. Significant changes include reintroduction of mandatory prior information, consultation and joint exam with the most representative Italian Unions by sector. This procedure can be done “remotely, within three days after a previous communication”. This was initially part of the “Save Italy Decree” but later eliminated by the Conversion Law. No change was made to the Save Italy Decree regime for companies with more than 5 employees that want access to an exception to the redundancy fund for COVID-19. They must sign an agreement with the most representative Italian Unions by sector which can also be done remotely.     

On 19.09.19 Inps, National Labour Inspectorate (Inl), Confindustria, Cgil, Cisl and Uil signed a Convention. It aims to measure and certify how representative trade unions are and substantiate the number of valid Collective Bargaining Agreements thus fighting pirate contracts. The Convention implements the Single Text on representation signed by the social partners on 10.01.14. It considers contracts signed by trade unions representing a 50% plus 1 share as valid. This percentage is the average of the association data and electoral data. Inps’ task is to (i) collect the association data, which results from extracting the data of workers who are trade union members and with Inl, (ii) collect the electoral data on the basis of data for representation in companies. An important innovation is the establishment of a Committee supervising and guaranteeing the certification process. The Committee comprises representatives of the various social partners and is chaired by the Ministry of Labour’s representative. In order to sit at the negotiating table, trade union representatives must reach a 5% minimum representation threshold. The Convention lasts 3 years and, as anticipated by the Inps’ President, Cgil, Cisl and Uil are defining a similar Convention with the other employers’ bodies.