The new contract of 100 thousand workers in environmental services will bring an average increase of 121 euros and will be valid until 31 December 2024. Thus the long negotiation of the employers’ associations (Utilitalia, Confindustria Cisambiente, Legacoop Produzione e Servizi, Confcooperative Lavoro and Servizi, Agci Servizi and Assoambiente) and the trade unions (Fit Cisl, Fp Cgil, Uiltrasporti and Fiadel) to renew the national collective agreement for environmental services. «The renewal and unification of the environmental services contract of public and private companies, which involves about 100 thousand employees, is well. Services of which we measured the great importance during the pandemic », comments the Minister of Labor Andrea Orlando. “Renewing and adapting contracts is good for workers who obtain fair salary recognition and important for enabling companies and workers to be able to fully grasp the challenges of transitions,” he adds.
The duration
The new contract will run from January 2022 and will last until December 31, 2024. After the signing of the hypothesis of an agreement – which must be submitted to the workers – the unions suspended the state of agitation and revoked the strike already proclaimed for the next 20 June.
The economic part
The economic increase common to the two contracts Uitilitalia and Assoambiente in the three-year period is 121 euros on the parameter 130.07 (level 3A). Of these 80 euros are envisaged as an increase in the basic monthly parametric salaries, 6 euros are instead provided on the basis of the agreement of the personnel classification system, 3 euros for the definition of plant engineering allowances, 15 euros as an additional related remuneration element to productivity and 17 euros to be allocated to welfare. For the period 1 January -30 June 2022, workers are paid a per capita amount of 130 euros in petrol vouchers or similar securities for the purchase of fuel, pursuant to art. 2 of Legislative Decree no. 21/2022.
The “standardization” of contractual institutions
This renewal marks the standardization of almost all the contractual institutions of the two sector contracts, namely Utilitalia and Assoambiente. Despite the context characterized by an energy shock and an increase in the prices of automotive fuels, the employers’ associations have chosen to close the negotiation and today express “satisfaction with the successful outcome of the negotiation, in which the sense of responsibility between the parties and of unity “.
Enlargement of the perimeter and future challenges
Among the next challenges for both employers and trade unions is the enlargement of the scope of application of the contract to the entire supply chain to seize the opportunity of the circular economy, avoid contractual dumping and innovate in terms of classification. and enhancement of human capital by rewarding competence and results. Also for the benefit of all citizens who benefit from environmental services. For the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, this is «a historic result. After a complex negotiation, the value of this contract also lies in the recomposition of a framework of industrial structures and relations, which will be called upon to manage transformation and innovation processes of the waste collection, disposal, enhancement and recycling process, with a view to environmental sustainability, taking up the challenge of the circular economy and technological innovation. The parties have grasped the necessary and necessary responsibility to protect wages, employment and rights, combining it with the challenging dimension of the government of the environmental transition ”. With this renewal “wages are protected, avoiding contractual dumping and enhancing the human capital and skills of workers for the benefit of users”, reiterates the general secretary of the CISL Luigi Sbarra. Pierpaolo Bombardieri, secretary general of UIL, explains that “from the wage point of view, the increase obtained is higher than the IPCA, while the regulatory part has been confirmed and the welfare system has been strengthened. The agreement, therefore, is also the right and due recognition of the commitment and work of one of the many categories which, in the difficult period of the pandemic, guaranteed their indispensable service to the community ».