Collective protections for changing work
The agreement is important because “it defines collective rules for the protection of all male and female workers in the group”, says Lando Maria Sileoni, the general secretary of the self-employed of Fabi, the main credit organization which will hold its congress from 12 to 16 June in Rome. Although at the end of last year the time was not ripe for the union to reach an agreement and there were still some issues to be developed, above all relating to branch workers, “a constructive dialogue with the bank’s top management – says Sileoni – is not never failed and it is therefore necessary to seek every solution, contractually feasible, which takes into account a work organization that is radically changing. The professional and personal conditions of the workers of the group interested in the short week and smart working must be deeply protected”. Given the value, including the political one, of the agreement for the sector – and beyond – for Sileoni it is necessary «to preserve and improve the professional prospects of all male and female workers of all groups and of all Italian banks, and act, therefore , with foresight, concretely demonstrating that ability to manage the profound changes taking place in the banking sector”.
Union satisfaction
Paolo Citterio of Fabi underlines that «by collecting the contribution of the many colleagues who participated in the recent meetings» this agreement «allows us to go beyond individual contracts, thus reiterating that collective agreements are the best way to manage the bank’s major changes in a context constantly evolving”. The agreement, says Domenico Iodice, national secretary of First Cisl, is innovative “because it looks to the future, and identifies in the safeguards of the national contract and in the role of collective bargaining the guarantees of a ‘just transition’, respectful of people’s life cycle of work”. In this way, for Roberto Malano of Fisac CGIL, «we have confirmed and regulated the use of both instruments on the central structures and we have extended the forecasts in favor of the network in a very consistent way, albeit still on an experimental basis. We have thus defined a path that will have to lead to the full involvement of all the workers of the group». For Massimiliano Pagani and Simona Ortolani of Uilca, the agreement “enhances the path already started at a time when smart working was not yet governed by legislation and the experience gained within the group”. The secretary general of Unisin/Confsal, Emilio Contrasto, adds that “the agreement solves most of the problems that had prevented its signing last December, improving the regulatory and economic forecasts”.
The renewal of the Abi contract
The agreement between Intesa and the unions comes just as the workers’ assemblies are underway on the platform that the unions will present to ABI for the renewal of the national collective labor agreement, where there is a request to reduce working hours to 35 hours per week and an increase of 435 euros. And this bodes well for the unions. «It is clear that having presented a new contractual platform which tends to guarantee the best protections for male and female workers – says Sileoni – precisely in a phase of reorganization of work in groups and individual companies, it becomes essential to define a whole series of rules that provide not only for job protection, but also rules to protect the personal life of every banker. The priority, even in such a delicate phase of change for each banking group, remains the maintenance of all jobs and the creation of new jobs”.
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