Collective and Political Bargaining

Abstract

The year 1982 was decisive for interconfederal bargaining between the peak organisations of the three unions (CGIL, CISL, UIL) and the employers' associations. The importance of the agreement of January 22 1983 as an attempt to rationalise Italian industrial relations has been recognised even by many of its critics. It must be evaluated in the overall context of industrial relations, of which it is a particularly significant indicator. The agreement includes several general principles that are important for characterising the industrial relations model. The guiding directives contained in the various points of the agreement are consistent with its general approach. At the end of 1983 the need to control inflation still existed and was pressing in view of a possible economic recovery provided by the international economic situation. Collective and political bargaining at the start of 1984 wound up in disagreement among the unions and with a government decree. It has a profound traumatic effect on Italy’s industrial relations system.