Italians cement a deal

The agreement for the 11,000 employees in the bricks and cement sector in Italy, signed last month, includes a number of measures aimed at reducing the number of employees whose working conditions are described as “precarious”.

There is now an overall ceiling of 22% on the proportion of workers in any company that can be employed on non-standard conditions, defined at those not employed on permanent contracts. Workers who have been employed on temporary contracts for at least 36 months must be offered a permanent job, and the permitted gap between periods of temporary work is cut from 30 to 20 days.

The agreement also includes improved arrangements for sickness absence as well as for those who take time off to look after sick dependants, including the possibility of working part-time for a period before returning to full-time work.

On pay, the three-year deal provides increases totalling €104 a month, paid in three tranches, plus €360 in back pay to take account of the fact that the previous deal ran out at the end of March last year. One of the main negotiators, Moulay El Akkioui of the union FILLEA CGIL, described the figures as “satisfactory” in light of the difficulties facing the industry.

€1 was worth 83p on 19 February.