Intesa Sanpaolo, Abi’s mandate for contract renewal revoked

Intesa Sanpaolo, the leading Italian bank, remains in Abi but has revoked the association’s delegation to be represented. This is confirmed by various sources according to which the decision takes place while negotiations are underway with the unions for the renewal of the national contract, which expired in December and extended until the end of April. By statute, the ABI, in addition to consultancy and information activities, on behalf of the members, represents them “in the regulation of employment relationships (including the stipulation of collective agreements) vis-à-vis the workers’ union organizations”.

Moreover, Intesa Sanpaolo has already launched the four-day short week and 120 days of smart working a year as part of a work reorganization that meets the “needs to reconcile professional and working life balances and demonstrates attention to the well-being of people”. A move that union circles consider a forcing of the national contract in force. Just as the negotiations for the renewal of the bank contract are about to begin. And this would be the real reason, beyond the official remarks, for which the unions would have rejected the agreement. An accusation that the bank firmly rejected, emphasizing that the contract and its application are not modified in any way, but “only” work is done on the organization of work.

Certainly, that of the bank led by the managing director Carlo Messina is a cultural revolution. Also due to the fact that it is the first private employer in the country to carry it forward: in Italy alone, Intesa Sanpaolo employs 75,000 people, rising to over 97,000 globally.

Among the main innovations, there is the evolution of smart working with the possibility of flexible working up to 120 days a year, without monthly limits and the short week of 4 days of 9 working hours for equal pay, on a voluntary basis and compatibly with the bank’s technical, organizational and production requirements. Translated: whoever wants can request to join the new organization, provided that it is compatible with their function.

For the unions (Fabi – First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, Uilca and Unisin) Intesa’s move is an “incomprehensible closure on the part of the company” and for this reason they announce that they will verify “step by step the ways in which the company it will be activated unilaterally because any solution other than the provisions of the national employment contract is unacceptable”.