Italians settle quickly in chemicals industry

An agreement has been reached for the Italian chemical industry which will see average monthly pay rise by €100 over the two years January 2004 to December 2005. In contrast to the lengthy negotiations in some other sectors, the agreement for the chemical industry, which covers 200,000 employees, was reached last month, before the start date of the new settlement.

Pay will be increased in three stages, €44 in January 2004, €44 in January 2005 and €12 in October 2005.

The deal more than meets inflation, currently running at 2.5% (December 2003).