Work, fewer hours and more money: this is how the requests in contracts change

The Government in the match

«Each sector will tackle the issue in its own way – continues Bocchi – and it is clear that the sum of the wage increase, which is a central issue in this round of renewals, and the reduction in working hours has a very high cost. For this we will need the help of the Government to support the wage bill and therefore the reduction of the tax wedge and the detaxation of contractual increases, for example”. The issue of timetables, Romani agrees, «obviously has different starting points in the various contracts and must be tackled sectorally with tools that are not always identical, from that of the actual daily, weekly or annual reduction to that of flexibility. It must be combined with the use of smart working and, in that case and not only, with an overall rethinking of the rigidities imposed by work organizations which are inevitably destined to be overcome. And it must be placed in relation to the priorities on which attention must be paid, starting from that of ongoing and extensive formation”.

productivity and employment

If any reductions or remodulations of hours, according to various surveys, meet the favor of the workers, however, the debate never contemplates the hypothesis of wage reductions. Human resources directors show openness, as revealed by an Aidp survey among more than a thousand managers, according to which over half (53%) said they were in favor of discussing the topic. But they raise the topic of productivity. From the debate, the reduction of working hours has quickly planed in the renewal platforms of some contracts that could lead the way and give substance – or not – to the issue.

Some details on the requests. In wood furnishings Filca, Fillea and Feneal write that the current company policies that respond to market demand mainly through the use of overtime, shift changes, structural flexibility and reduced use of holidays and daily and weekly rest periods are now unsustainable. on static and traditional timetable organizations». On the contrary, “stabilisations and hirings remain the most suitable tool for responding to this need, together with a reduction in working hours for the same salary, which would allow for the possibility of new hires”.

Precisely for this reason they are asking “to immediately experiment with a reduction in formal working hours from 40 to 38 hours per week, converting them into rol, making better use of the hour bank institution and with the constraint that a part be reinvested in training”. A reflection, that of the coupled reduction in hours and employment that also circulates a lot in the automotive sector. The Fim Cisl, led by Roberto Benaglia, has focused a lot on the definition of “fair work”, with the hypothesis of using components of the timetable also for training. And, thus, perhaps curbing the employment issue as well.

Equal pay

In the platform that Fai, Flai and Uila are about to bring to the assemblies of 450,000 workers in the food industry and cooperation, we read instead that «to respond to the challenge of changing work, the request for a reduction in weekly working hours from 40 to 36 hours, for the same salary». Finally, the bankers who were the first to work on the issue of rescheduling and reducing hours under the national contract, many years ago, envisaging the possibility of distributing hours over 4 days with a reduction of an hour and a half, moving to 37 .5 to 36 hours per week. Now, however, Fabi, First, Fisac, Uilca and Unisin are asking to go from 37.5 hours to 35, tout court. “It is time to recognize a general reduction in contractual hours of 30 minutes a day, therefore 35 hours a week,” they write jointly. Let me be clear, “at equal pay”.