It's official: the negotiating table for the Renewal of the national metalworkers' contract è skipped. After the failure of the discussions between Federmeccanica-Assistal and the Fiom, Fim and Uilm unions, tension is sky-high. The break was caused by the enormous distances between the parties on the issue of wage increases, leaving the contract without renewal and, almost certainly, the category with a strike on the horizon, to be scheduled in the coming weeks, in addition to the Flexibility block e of overtime.
Unions' demands: raises and short week
The trade union platform aims to achieve real wage increases: the request is for 280 euros per month over three years on the minimum wage of level C3, the former fifth level, which currently amounts to 1931,64 euros per month. The employers' associations, however, have other ideas: they propose to extend the contract to four years, with increases linked to the Ipca-Nei inflation rate, indexed by Istat. According to the calculations, this would lead to a gross increase of 173,37 euros for level C3, but not immediately and in any case less than requested.
The unions are also aiming for a reduction of working hours: the goal is to reduce the current 40-hour week to 35 hours, especially in companies undergoing transition and reorganization.
The Breakup: “Insufficient and Unacceptable Proposals”
Federmeccanica and Assistal have proposed increases that the unions judged to be “smoky and insufficient” and not up to the current needs of workers. The general secretary of Uilm, Rocco Palombella, stated bluntly: "The proposals of the other side are unacceptable, they do not respond to the real needs of the workers, who are asking for concrete increases, more rights and protections". For Palombella, the positions of the industrialists are a real "wall", which has led the workers' representatives to leave the bargaining table.
Before the meeting, the general secretary of Uil, Pierpaolo Bombardieri, had anticipated the breakup, explaining that “zero euro contracts” would not be accepted. He commented: “If Federmeccanica thinks that the metalworkers’ contract alone compensates for inflation, we are not willing to accept a contract that does not provide for real increases”.
Metalworkers: Strike coming
The unions have therefore launched a mobilization plan which will involve all workplaces, with preparatory assemblies, and will culminate in a 8-hour territorial strike in the coming weeks. In addition to this, a freeze on flexibility and overtime has also been announced.
The category, already penalized by wages that have lost ground in terms of purchasing power in recent years, is ready to make its voice heard to obtain a contract that truly values the work and dignity of metalworkers.
Tensions also with the Government
The breakdown in the contract comes just as the climate remains heated on the labour front economic maneuver of the Government. The Cgil and Uil unions have confirmed the general strike of 29 novemberand, arguing that the space for dialogue with the executive is minimal. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took part in the meetings defending the planned measures, but then expressed “surprise” at the tone used by the unions, defining them as “unprecedented” and wondering why they were not as combative “when the unemployment rate was double”. A dig that did not go unnoticed.
Maurizio Landini, general secretary of the CGIL, summarized his opinion on the maneuver as "terrible", considering the proposed package of increases for public employees "derisory" and asking that at least investment be made in jobs and salaries, rather than in spending on weapons and defense. bombers, while acknowledging the government's willingness to discuss a tax exemption on contractual increases, clarified: "There are two opposing visions of the maneuver". The general secretary of the Cisl, Luigi Barra, found the government's responses "satisfactory" regarding "support for income, work, pensions and families". Sbarra remains for now an isolated optimist in a room full of pessimism. The next window of negotiations for the open questions it is expected for the 12th December.
