The negotiations between the trade unions and Federmeccanica for the renewal of the metalworkers' contract are still deadlocked. Here is the joint statement from Fim, Fiom and Uilm, who also announced a twelve-hour strike in the months of May and June at a territorial level and
regional, and regional events on 9 and 10 June:
Also in the meeting this morning 24 May 2016 Federmeccanica and Assistal reaffirmed their positions, thus preventing the start of a real negotiation. We consider these positions to be a mistake, moreover in the opposite direction to the need for contractual innovation. At the same time, the contractual model is being questioned - based on two contractual levels - and the role and value of the National Contract as a real instrument for the protection of wages and the rights of all people who work in metalworking companies.
After six months of negotiations, Federmeccanica is de facto firm on the scheme proposed last December 22, according to which the National Collective Labor Agreement no longer recognizes any wage increase for the vast majority of our category, and even penalizes those who have carried out the bargaining in recent years of work.
The only availability, after all this time, is the simple re-edition and application of the same scheme, i.e. a CCNL valid for a share of workers of less than 5% of the category. Even the insights carried out on the texts relating to all the issues requested by us, in 4 sessions (10,11,16 and 17 May) did not produce substantial advances in the positions of Federmeccanica and
Assist her. Faced with this situation, the national secretariats Fim Fiom Uilm believe that there is no more time to lose and it is necessary to intensify the mobilization with initiatives in the workplace and on the territory.
This is the condition to change the counterparts' minds and finally support the carrying out of a real negotiation to create a good national contract for all metalworkers and workers. For these reasons, the national secretariats Fim, Fiom and Uilm proclaim:
– the overtime and flexibility strike to be carried out on Saturday 28 May and Saturday 11 June;
– a 12-hour strike package to be carried out in the month of May with articulated initiatives and in the month of June with regional demonstrations to be held on 9 and 10 June 2016.
The national secretariats Fim, Fiom and Uilm commit all the territorial structures and the Rsu to the maximum success of the initiatives and invite all male and female workers to participate. Our goal is to reaffirm a CCNL that guarantees the purchasing power of wages for all metalworkers, that qualifies industrial relations, extends 2nd level bargaining to all aspects that make up work performance, improves work organization and working conditions and introduce new training rights, welfare, participation and enhancement of professionalism for all, protect all forms of work and employment, restart investments and relaunch a real industrial policy: this is the renewal we want and what is needed.
“We have found – declares the general secretary of the FIM-CISL Marco Bentivogli – that Federmeccanica does not have the will to renew the contract, he already knew from the beginning of the negotiations that the salary and contractual system proposal could not become a contractual solution. In all these 7 months of meetings, this rigidity of not changing one's position, of not taking any step forward, but at the most of diluting it over time only leads to a useless and wrong opposition. All this only leads to a confrontation with workers and trade unions that serves no one. The proposal to give a wage response to only 5% of metalworkers is unfeasible for us. It is an approach full of contradictions, both for workers and for businesses. We are faced with evident distortions of reality when we speak of wages in rain, when instead in recent years the crisis has strongly affected workers' incomes, or when we assume the cost of labor at the center of the negotiating comparison and as a pivotal element to revive the industrial industrial system. It cannot be said that the national contract is important and then present a proposal that responds to 5% of the category and actually makes the contract become residual, so much so as to transform it into a regulatory element that will not be used by workers or businesses. In Federmeccanica's proposal, the two levels of negotiation are disassembled and the alternative of the two levels is reached. It does not push on company bargaining but it is hit with an absorption operation with the national level. The renewal of the industrial system must also be based on cultural aspects, but bringing the contractual system to a single level and exalting the policy of individual wages is part of industrial relations in the early twentieth century. The steps taken on welfare and training are appreciable, but there must be a necessary space for the protection of purchasing power and for it to be distributed to all workers. To do this it is necessary to take back the negotiations and advance the positions. There is excessive slowness in negotiations and if time is not spent finding a solution, it kills the negotiation and is bad for workers and businesses. A different approach to the one we have had up to now is also needed on the professional classification. The starting point cannot be the rewriting of professional profiles, this is not the real reform we are asking for, we need to completely review the approach to implement real change. Faced with this position, we can only put in place a strong and immediate reaction to change this attitude and these positions which do not allow us to renew the contract.
