PRESS RELEASE
MODERN ORGANIZED DISTRIBUTION, NEGOTIATIONS WITH FEDERDISTRIBUZIONE ON THE RENEWAL OF THE NATIONAL CONTRACT THAT EXPIRED BACK IN 2019, BREAKDOWN
FILCAMS CGIL, FISASCAT CISL AND UILTUCS PROCLAIM A NATIONAL STRIKE DAY FOR MARCH 30, 2024. FLASH MOB IN THE SALES POINTS OF THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE COMPANIES, IMPROVISED DEMONSTRATIONS AT A TERRITORIAL LEVEL
Rome, March 27, 2024 – There is a breakdown at the negotiating table for the renewal of the National Contract for Organized Modern Distribution, which expired way back in 2019 and is awaited by over 240,000 workers employed by companies associated with Federdistribuzione. The employers' association, after a long and unnerving non-stop negotiation with the trade unions Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs and 51 months after the signing of the first and last Ccnl for the sector, has once again lowered its mask, revealing its persistent resistance to signing contractual agreements.
An attitude that has already inflicted considerable damage on workers in the sector, as demonstrated by the previous renewal of 19 December 2018, which occurred after a 45-month delay with respect to the signing of the Ccnl TDS Confcommercio of 30 March 2015, resulting in "a net loss for workers, in the order of several thousand euros and in terms of lower wages received during the duration of the contract compared to their colleagues who, despite carrying out and operating in the same sector, were paid more significant economic treatments", the trade unions denounce in a joint note.
Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs, who loudly stigmatize “Federdistribuzione's intolerance towards the contracts”, have proclaimed a day of national strike for next March 30, 2024, “implemented through abstention from work for the entire work shift” and with the realization of “flash mobs near the sales points of the most representative companies in each province of the country, as well as impromptu demonstrations” at a territorial level.
The basis of the mobilization is “the irresponsibility of Federdistribuzione” in presenting “various requests aimed at sabotaging rights and guarantees currently contained in the National Collective Labor Agreement and that workers in commercial distribution have achieved at the cost of sacrifices and struggles over the last few decades”.
In detail, Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs point the finger at: "the introduction of uncontrolled and generalized flexibility with fixed-term contracts of indefinite duration (over 24 months!); the dismemberment of the staff classification system with the assignment of the auxiliary sales operations employee to inferior tasks such as cleaning sales areas and services (as some companies associated with Federdistribuzione illegitimately do); the elimination of all professional dignity with the under-classification of those responsible for entire complex commercial formats; the creation of a new task dedicated to the movement of goods, dragging it towards the fifth level and emptying the current provision at the fourth level, with the sole purpose of saving companies at the expense of workers". Furthermore, no availability was given to the union requests to address the issue of "Tender and outsourcing" and "franchising".
“Unrealistic demands” for the unions, “aimed solely at wrecking an already complex negotiation”, demonstrating the “pathological reluctance” of Federdistribuzione “to give the right recognition in economic terms to the employees of its associated companies”. “The negotiating scheme proposed by Federdistribuzione – the note continues – is once again to mortify the renewal of the Ccnl in a logic of exchange between a presumed willingness to provide the due salary increase (never explicitly stated in detail in the 17 hours of negotiations) in exchange for a worsening of the regulatory part that provided for the precariousness of workers through a system derogating the law and proposing the humiliation of professionalism through a lowering of the classification levels”.
“The employers’ association – is the harsh attack by Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs – is not satisfied with having irresponsibly abandoned for almost five years an entire category of employees struggling with an inflationary dynamic that has put the stability of their incomes to the test”. “Through an association that appears to be only capable of uncritically supporting the basest instincts of its representatives – the note continues – the companies of the Modern Organized Distribution are launching an unprecedented attack on the rights of those who work in the sector, mortifying their professionalism and ignoring their industrious and continuous contribution”.
“Against the arrogant attitude of Federdistribuzione – concludes the joint note – we need to mobilize”. The appeal is addressed to the hundreds of thousands of workers of the Modern Organized Distribution, called once again to participate in the March 30th strike and mobilization day aimed at obtaining a dignified contract renewal.
