Confartigianato, Cna and Casa write to Cnel to cancel the Confindustria-Ugl contract

That contract has not to be done: it is the meaning of the letter that Confartigianato, Cna and CasaArtigiani sent to Cnel, asking to “repudiate” the new national contract signed by the very small Assoartigiani. But this is not an internal guerrilla warfare within the artisan sector: the clash is with Confindustria, to which Assoartigiani belongs. And the letter to Cnel is the final attempt to win a battle that began in the autumn.

It all begins on October 19th last year, when Assoartigiani and the Ugl union announced the signing of a new national contract for “micro and small engineering companies installing systems, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the like”. In reality little stuff, a handful of companies between Brescia and Bergamo. But the news is badly taken both by CGIL, CISL and UIL, and by the three major associations in the sector, who wonder: does the metalworking trade, with over 600,000 employees, already enjoy a solid and representative contractual system, what need is there? is this new? The suspicion is that it is a more political than trade union operation: the signing took place right next to the settlement of the Meloni government, and then the Ugl is a union very close to the right, in particular to the League, as presumably also Assoartigiani , which is based in Bergamo. Whether this is the first “black-green pirate contract”? And if so, how many others could follow?

The Ugl of Paul Capone, however, is certainly not a pirate union: it is a recognized confederation and participates in government tables. So much so that, in the letter of protest that the CGIL, CISL and UIL send to Confindustria, they do not blame the Ugl, but with Confindustria itself: accusing it of favoring, with the green light to the Assoartigiani contract, the enlargement of the already vast ” contractual jungle”. In the letter, the unions speak of “serious impropriety”, of “violation of the Pact of the factory”, and ask Carlo Bonomi’s association to “remove your ownership from signing the Assoartigiani agreement”.

The metalworkers are also tough: Robert Benaglia, leader of the Fim-Cisl, affirms that by endorsing “the alleged Assoartigiani” Confindustria contributes “to the degeneration and balkanisation of the contractual system”. Especially since this new contract “was signed with the active role of your association, with which it was proposed to regulate the system of representation and to counter the proliferation of pirate contracts”. Confartigianato also arises, whose president, Marco Granelli, explains: “the umpteenth contract signed by non-representative organizations” ends up fueling “the confusion and contractual dumping, altering the laboriously achieved negotiating balance”.

None of these authoritative stances, however, makes any inroads: the Assoartigiani-Ugl contract exists and remains firm in the Confindustria area. Confartigianato, Casa and Cna therefore decide to turn to the Cnel, as the decisive arbiter with respect to the validity of the contracts. And here we come to the letter we mentioned at the beginning: “We have received news – the three organizations wrote to the president of Cnel Tiziano Treu – of the signing of a contract signed by an association called Assoartigiani, a member of Confindustria”. The letter explains that this agreement “overlaps the sphere of representation and regulation of labor relations already governed by our collective agreement filed with the CNEL”. Furthermore, Confartigianato, Casa and Cna “are recognized as being comparatively more representative associations”, but the same cannot be said for Assoartigianato, which lacks “the requirements set by the Ministry of Labour” due to the “small associative and territorial consistency”: therefore, the contract also lacks the requisites to be “filed” to the Cnel, obtaining the legal identification code, and any application for registration must be rejected. The ball now passes to Villa Lubin: the meeting of the commission to decide on the regularity of the Assoartigiani-Ugl contract is set for 31 January.