Italy: mechanical and metals sector social partners mobilize to promote lifelong training

The mechanical and metals sector collective agreement that was renewed in November 2016 and that covers some 1.6 million workers (c.f. article No. 9941) includes ‘the individual’s right to training,’ comprising 24 hours per person over the period spanning 2017-2019. Almost two years later and this provision has barely left the starting blocks. The employers’ bodies, Federmeccanica and Assistal, as well as the trade unions FIOM-Cgil, FIM-Cisl, and UILM, held a congress devoted to this theme in November and are mobilizing down at grass roots level to make companies and workers aware of the advantages of lifelong training, build dialogue with training bodies, and surmount various organizational and especially cultural challenges.