The industry engineering The Milanese area has 8,8 thousand local units and 90 thousand employees, produces about 18 billion euros of exports, accounting for about 40% of the total manufacturing in Milan and 20-25% of the sector at the regional level. This is what emerges from the first edition of the Territorial Joint Observatory, set up last April by Assolombarda and by the provincial union secretariats (Fim Cisl, Fiom Cgil and Uilm Uil) with the aim of monitoring the most relevant issues in the Milanese engineering sector.
“The data collected highlight the substantial stability of the sector despite the objective difficulty of the reference scenarios – he said Diego Andreis, vice president of Assolombarda with responsibility for employment, safety and welfare policies -. The analysis shows that negotiation practices have a significant impact on the sector, generating a balanced synthesis between the productivity and efficiency needs of companies and the needs of workers”.
As regards the result awards – for Marco Giglio, general secretary of Fim-Cisl Milano Metropoli, Roberta Turi, general secretary of Fiom-Cgil Milano, Vittorio Sarti, general secretary of Uilm-Uil Milano Monza and Brianza – the indicators referring to innovation and efficiency, qualifying for transitions in progress, are not very present: a change of pace is needed. Bargaining is confirmed as an aspect that characterizes the most dynamic medium and large companies that are more competitive on exports. As far as the search for personnel is concerned, the need for some specialized figures is highlighted: this once again demonstrates the importance of training and industrial relations in this matter”.
Milanese mechatronics at the heart of the Lombard manufacturing system
In detail, the Observatory notes that metalworking includes various specializations that present increasingly interconnected production systems: from metallurgy , mechanics, which employ 36% and 33% of the total metalworking workers, to the sectors of equipment electrical (14% of employees) and ofelectronics (11%), up toautomotive (6%).
According to the data, the sector shows a favorable economic trend, certified by the positive trend of its exports, growing by +15% per year in the period January-September 2022. However, if compared with the total Milanese economy (+23,1% ) and with metalworking at the regional level (+16,2%), the exports of the Milanese metalworking register a lower growth rate.
This trend can be explained by the different trends that characterize the individual sectors: if on the one hand metallurgy, electronics and electrical equipment are the sectors that support it most, with growth rates of exports above +20% in the period January-September 2022, on the other hand, the Milanese mechanics show a positive annual change, but to a lesser extent than the other sectors (+7,4%). The automotive sector, on the other hand, recorded a deceleration of -9,6% in the first 9 months of 2022, proving to be the sector that presents the greatest difficulties.
Labor market: Cig requests are decreasing
On the labor market front, in December 2022 the requests for labor slowed down layoffs of metalworking companies in Milan, returning to the levels of July. The reversal of the trend, which has been growing since August, is also seen in the other manufacturing sectors, where the number of authorized hours returns to pre-Covid levels. Finally, from the analysis of the job advertisements of the last 12 months it emerges that the most sought after figures from the Milanese metalworking firms are those of skilled workers, in particular installers-repairers, and technicians, above all industrial designers.
The corporate bargaining of the metalworking companies in Milan
The Observatory also analyzed the quality of supplementary company contract present in metalworking companies in the Milan area. The analysis for the five-year period 2018-2022 shows that the concentration of negotiation on performance bonuses is present in companies with between 50 and 250 employees, while it is much lower in companies with less than 50 employees.
The research then focused attention on the shared objectives and targets for the definition of the result award. The objectives connected to increases in productivity and profitability remain prevalent: in the last few years of analysis, the objectives of innovation and efficiency have begun to be increasingly present, demonstrating the development and implementation of negotiation practices and the cultural growth of the parties on the subject.
The presence of topics related to welfare it is now present in almost all company agreements in its various forms, where the convertibility of the amounts remains very significant. The recognition of welfare correlated to objectives is also growing, while welfare on top is not very present in bargaining as it is often the result of unilateral company policies.
In conclusion, the research investigated the maximum economic quantities payable to achieve the results agreed in the union agreements. The maximum amounts that can be reached are around 1.500 euros/year for almost half of the contracts analysed. As expected, underlines the research, in large companies the annual premium increases, exceeding 47 euros per year in 2.000% of cases.
