A-Infos (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #32 - CCNL Logistica, a wedding with dried figs - Marco Veruggio (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The contractual renewal of logistics, freight transport and shipping, 
signed on December 6 by the confederal unions with the employers' 
associations, dictates the new rules for a sector that according to some 
estimates produces over 10% of GDP, employs over a million workers and 
has been the scene of some of the liveliest union conflicts in recent 
years and the subject of numerous judicial investigations. For this 
reason, it is useful to try to decipher at least the main aspects and 
understand their impact on the workplace. ---- The context: a growing 
sector ---- The framework in which the contractual dispute developed was 
well established by Sergio Bologna in an article published in November: 
profits never so high in the last 10 years (source: Mediobanca); 80% of 
the dividends in the pockets of the partners and only 20% reinvested, 
over half in shareholdings (Faculty of Engineering, La Sapienza); over 
50% of Italian employees, almost seven million, awaiting contract 
renewal (ISTAT). Added to this data are those published by CENSIS, which 
speak of a "job bubble", in which employment is growing but not GDP and 
since 2007 the gross disposable income per capita of families has 
decreased by 7.7%.
Logistics is no exception. Data from the Gino Marchet Observatory of the 
Milan Polytechnic show that the turnover of contract logistics 
(third-party logistics) has been growing steadily for 15 years - the 
only exception being 2020, whose repercussions, however, have given the 
sector an acceleration that has taken it from 87 billion in 2019 to 
117.8 in 2024.
Wages: a no-brainer
The contractual platform approved a year ago by the confederate unions 
called for exceeding the IPCA by reaching increases of 18% to fully 
recover inflation and also to take into account the profitability of the 
sector. The press release with which they announced the reaching of an 
agreement and the revocation of the strike speaks of average increases 
of 14.3%. Let's see what the tables say. Among non-traveling staff, 
increases range from 185.61 euros (+12.2%) for the sixth level, the 
lowest (I do not consider the sixth junior, because it will disappear at 
the end of 2025 at the request of the union), to 319.24 euros (+15.7%) 
for managers, passing through the 230 (+12.5%) of the 3s, considered the 
reference level. In traveling staff, increases range from less than 10% 
at the lowest parameters (110) up to 290.53 (+15.8%) at the highest, 
passing through the 260 (14.1%) at the reference level B3. In essence, 
the most significant increases reach a small number of employees in the 
high range, while the vast majority have limited increases. The 
distribution of increases appears even clearer if we observe that in 
non-traveling personnel, going from 6 to 3s (5 steps), the gap between 
increases is 45 euros (0.3%), while from 3s to Q (3 steps) it rises to a 
whopping 89 (1%). Similarly, in traveling personnel, between G1 and F2 
(4 steps) the difference is 16 euros (0.4%), while between F2 and C3 (3 
steps) it is 64 (3.2%). It is the classic device with which companies 
increase average increases while keeping the overall cost of contract 
renewal low. The same one used masterfully by TLC companies in the last 
renewal (one of those expired) to keep call center workers (miserable 
increases) and those of large telephone companies (more substantial 
increases) in a single contract.
Added to this is the usual mechanism whereby the first half of the extra 
money in the paycheck arrives immediately, while the rest is added in 
convenient installments spread over two and a half years, ensuring that, 
as in Zeno's paradox, Achilles (the salary) never catches up with the 
tortoise (inflation). Nothing even in terms of more seniority 
increments, increased bonuses for night work and freezing temperatures 
(as requested in particular by the Cobas) and even a reduction in 
sickness coverage on a sliding scale when you get sick before a rest 
period ("anti-absenteeism measure"). An Amazon driver with four years of 
seniority, who works 4 days a week (a very common practice) will put 
around 50 euros net more in his pocket per month on January 1st. A scandal.
Rules: lights and shadows
If in the salary part the companies win 3-0, on the regulatory level the 
balance is more multifaceted. In terms of flexibility - one of the main 
employer requests - companies do not break through on working hours, but 
obtain more flexible contracts. The ceiling for atypical contracts 
(fixed-term, agency work) goes from 27% to 41%, that for part-time from 
25% to 41%. Furthermore, the possibility of hiring seasonal workers in 
road transport in specific sectors (agriculture, tourism, heating fuels) 
is recognized.
The most interesting part, however, is the one on contracts, a key 
issue, because either control is re-established on the jungle revealed 
by the Milanese investigations or any contract is destined to remain 
largely unenforceable.

One of the positive aspects is that the renewal introduces the social 
clause for traveling personnel in the event of a change of supplier for 
urban distribution services. Assotir, which is also a signatory, has 
stated in the minutes that it does not agree with the measure also 
because it "opens a dangerous precedent".

The other interesting aspect concerns the "qualification of the supply 
chain" of the actual contracts. The text reiterates the prohibition of 
subcontracting, but transforms the exemption for "associated companies" 
into an exemption for "consortium companies", strengthening to some 
extent the joint liability of the client in the event of illicit acts, 
but above all imposes "qualifying" constraints on the contracting 
companies, both in terms of business organization and, above all, 
accounting transparency and regularity of contributions and taxes. If 
the investigations of the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office attest that 
often the "filter companies" that invoice the clients for the services 
of the "reservoir" companies (of labor) already take the form of 
consortia (with few or no employees), the request for the updated DURC 
and documentation of tax payments (DURF or F24) could actually make it 
more difficult for large clients to offload the "dirty work" of cost 
reduction onto the contractors and so on down the chain of subcontracting.
For the rest, there are other small improvements, for example on the 
responsibilities of drivers in the event of damage (first event 100% 
borne by the company, in the second 65% by the worker). On the subject 
of safety - it is useful to remember that three of the five victims of 
the massacre in Calenzano were truck drivers - the site safety 
representative is introduced, who could operate in interports or in 
logistics hubs that involve more than 500 workers with a degree of 
greater autonomy compared to the company RLS. Nothing, however, on a 
topic that is felt by many workers: use of data and remote control.
The workers' consultation is scheduled for January 27, it is not yet 
clear whether it will be in the form of a referendum (in which case the 
result would give a precise idea of the workers' perception) or simple 
assemblies.
A missed opportunity
I won't go any further, but I'll try to draw some conclusions. At the 
presentation of the latest report by the Gino Marchet Observatory, 
logistics managers repeated the mantra of "making our companies more 
attractive". Judging by the salary increases in the contract renewal, 
either they decided to make a fuss or they adopted a variable geometry 
strategy, granting very little at a national level and resigning 
themselves to making some concessions at a local level, especially in 
those sites where the grassroots unions enjoy more favorable power 
relations.
Above all, those managers seemed more intimidated by the investigations 
of the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office than by the strikes. An attitude 
that recalls the renewal of private security, the sector with the lowest 
salaries in Italy (those of trustees according to the Milanese and Turin 
judges violate Article 36 of the Constitution), despite the growth in 
turnover. After the renewal was signed in May 2023, the sensational and 
widespread cases of underpaid work, exploitation and threats brought to 
light by the judiciary pushed the same employers' organizations to 
reopen the contractual game, which in February signed a new salary 
agreement with much more generous increases. Even before that, in 
October 2023, Sicuritalia, one of the companies most affected by the 
scandals, had signed increases of 38%. In short, in a European context 
(which Italy does not escape), in which sectors of work largely with low 
qualifications and low salaries are experiencing a shortage of manpower, 
the large Italian unions, unlike their European counterparts, are not 
seizing the opportunity. A singular choice, especially in logistics, 
where in recent years there has been a propensity to fight that has also 
produced significant results (think of the union's entry into Amazon) 
and in a phase in which the simultaneous breakdown in the metalworkers' 
contract and the arm wrestling of the bus, tram and rail workers (with a 
recent 24-hour strike without guaranteed time slots) would have allowed 
the forces of three key sectors to be combined. When I was a delegate, 
colleagues often asked me why not sue instead of resorting to union 
initiatives. And I replied that going to court is usually an admission 
of weakness in the workplace and that justice takes forever.
Today, faced with episodes in which the union is competing with the 
Milan Prosecutor's Office, I would still support the same thesis... but 
I would certainly have some more difficulty. Marco Veruggio, journalist, 
activist and researcher, writes about international economics and 
politics in national and foreign newspapers. He is editor of the website 
and newsletter PuntoCritico.info and co-author of Da New York a Passo 
Corese. Conflitto di classe e sindacato in Amazon (PuntoCritico, 2024).

http://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
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