Italy: national agreement to measure union representativeness in both industry and a segment of the tertiary sector

On 19 September an agreement was signed by the Confindustria employers’ body along with the Cgil, Cisl, and Uil central trade unions, the INPS (National Social Welfare Institute), as well as the Labor Inspectorate. Entitled the ‘Convention on measuring workers’ trade union representativeness within the Confindustria system,’ and a long-time objective of the social partners, this agreement seeks to close down the pervasive phenomenon of ‘cut-price’ collective conventions signed by minority trade unions boasting little representativeness, and which enable social dumping. The agreement will also serve as a benchmark for future legislation on union representativeness and the minimum salary as announced by Prime Minister G. Conte during his governmental program speech delivered on 09 September.