FIM-CISL vs. Industry 4.0

Abstract

18 | International Union Rights | 25/3 FOCUS | INDUSTRY 4.0 Historically, the FIM-CISL union (Italian Metalworkers Federation) has always been open to technological and organisational changes. So too with Industry 4.0, our union has adopted an optimistic perspective, regarding both the possibility of reviving the manufacturing industry even in highwage countries, and the chance for people to be emancipated themselves in the experience of work. Coming from a family of fishermen and sailors I remember a typical expression, which explains very well our way of facing innovation: ‘If we cannot stop the wind with our hands, it is better to learn to sail in the wind’. For this reason the FIM-CISL is very proactive on issues of automation and digitalisation in production. The metalworking sector in Italy is one of those sectors potentially most impacted by Industry 4.0. The first initiatives of the FIM-CISL (in the form of events and a thematic booklet) were carried out by the union even before the launch of the National Industry 4.0 plan by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. This fact demonstrates that the interest of the FIM-CISL in Industry 4.0 is not driven by the content of specific governmental measures; but by the attention the union has paid to the issue since the first half of the 2010s, and that of researchers, experts and managers, with whom FIMCISL has relationships. The approach adopted by FIM-CISL in relation to Industry 4.0, and in general about technological and organisational innovation, is one of willingness to anticipate change so as to make it sustainable for all. The dialogue with some Italian experts and researchers has informed this approach, as well as considerations we take from encouraging experiences of other workers, such as in Germany and Scandinavian countries. Importantly, this is a conceptualisation of Industry 4.0 as a phenomenon that can still be shaped while potentially bringing benefits to companies and workers in terms of flattening of hierarchies, disappearance of repetitive and routine work and growth in cognitive skills. This ultimately emphasises the relevance of some aspects that are traditionally of prime concern to FIM-CISL – namely, employee participation in decision-making processes; decentralised collective bargaining, conceived as closer to companies and territories, thus potentially more capable to address companies’ and workers’ specific problems; worker skills’ development, and so on. Industry 4.0 hence has come to be perceived by FIM-CISL officials as an enabler not only of Italian firms’ territorial competitiveness, but also of FIMCISL ’s own desire for a human-centred society and people’s self-fulfilment within the experience of work, thanks to a special focus on workers’ participation and knowledge. The expectation that Industry 4.0 could achieve some goals inherent to FIM-CISL’s traditional vision and mission, clearly has the merit of promoting FIM-CISL to actively engage on the topic, rather than reducing it to fear of technological advancement. On the other hand however, this might cloud FIM-CISL’s judgement on certain occasions. If not accompanied by a constant, critical analysis of the situation in companies and territories, it might draw FIM-CISL and its ideals away from workers and their concrete experiences. A crucial challenge for FIM-CISL, especially in the light of non-encouraging membership rates, appears to be that of bridging the gap between the union’s ideal perspectives of the future of work and workers’ actual needs and interests: an effort though already initiated in the latest round of contractual renewals. It seems urgent for FIM-CISL to keep on converting their ambitious objectives in Industry 4.0, once clearly defined and communicated, into more concrete practices of collective bargaining and workers’ representation: union organisational structure and union capacities need to be renovated and made consistent with union purposes in a changed scenario, in order not to lose internal legitimacy. Collective Bargaining for ‘Individual rights to professional training’ Among the results achieved in this proactive commitment from FIM-CISL is the inclusion of an ‘individual right to professional training’ in the national collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed in November 2016. That is an absolute novelty in the world of labour relations in...