The State, the Unions, and the Labor Market

Abstract

An analysis of recent Italian industrial relations must begin with the events of 1968–1969. This period was of special importance in the history of all Western countries as well as of the Eastern bloc, but perhaps nowhere was its impact as widely and lastingly felt as in Italy. The industrial relations system, the relations between unions and political parties, and between unions and government were dramatically modified. The changes in the Italian industrial relations system in the past two decades have therefore to be analyzed as a continuous process of adjustment, interrelated with the modifications in the social, economic, and political framework, dating back to the events of the late 1960s. Within the elements of continuity that characterize the whole period under consideration, this chapter identifies three main themes coming to prominence at different times: “pansyndicalism” in the years 1968–1975; “national solidarity government” in the years 1975–1980; and “trilateral bargaining” in the period 1980–1985.