Rome, November 3, 2023 – Workers in public establishments, collective catering, commercial catering, and tourism will also be on strike in December. The strike, called by the sector unions Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl, and Uiltucs, is motivated by the failure to renew the national contract, which expired in 2021.

The protest, which began with the proclamation of a state of strike and the calling of paid union meetings in the workplace, will be supported by a freeze on all forms of flexible working hours and a national initiative to be held in the coming weeks at a date and location to be determined. Over 1 million workers are involved in the dispute, employed by 330,000 businesses in the sector, including bars, restaurants, fast food outlets, pastry shops, canteens, company stores, and companies supplying prepared meals and canteens, which operate primarily under contract in hospitals, schools, factories, and offices.

The unions are pointing the finger at the delaying attitude of the employers' associations that signed the national sector bargaining agreement—Fipe, Angem, Legacoop Produzione e Servizi, Confcooperative Lavoro e Servizi, and Agci Servizi—which currently prevents the reaching of a decent renewal agreement for those who work in the sector.

"The sense of responsibility with which Filcams, Fisascat, and Uiltucs have approached discussions on issues relating to the regulatory scope of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement in recent months," a joint union statement reads, "has left room for diverse reflections, especially at the last meeting, where the employers' associations proved deaf to the demands of over a million workers in the sector."

"In addition to refusing to recognize union demands for wage increases calculated based on the inter-confederal agreements signed by the parties and in line with the calculation of inflation measured by the HICP index, net of imported energy products," the joint statement continues, "the employers' associations have put forward several proposals that risk having a significant impact on workers' wages."

In particular, the unions firmly reject the demands put forward by their counterparts regarding "seniority increases, reductions in ROL, neutralization of the effects of increases on the thirteenth and fourteenth month's pay, reduction of the sick leave period in the accident-to-sickness ratio, revision of notice periods, and apprenticeships," just some of the unacceptable proposals presented to the negotiating table. "These demands sound like yet another humiliation inflicted on workers!" is the unions' attack, criticizing the position of employers' associations, "blind to the wage emergency currently underway in our country; a real emergency that is severely compromising the wages of workers in this sector. Added to all this is a worrying breakdown within the employers' associations that signed the contract, which we believe should not and cannot be paid by others. This situation requires a clear response."

"Over a million workers," the union statement concludes, "cannot submit to the demands of employers' associations that view the renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement as a variable dependent solely on their own economic and organizational interests, demonstrating complete indifference to the needs and concerns of those who have given so much over the years to both businesses and the country."

WE ARE RIGHT WITH THE CONTRACT, IT'S TIME FOR RENEWALS!