News n.15/2024
On March 22, the Filcams-Cgil, Fisascat-Cisl, and UilTuCS trade unions and Confcommercio-Imprese per l'Italia signed the hypothesis of Agreement for the renewal of the Tertiary, Distribution and Services Collective Labor Agreement, which expired on December 31, 2019. Subsequently, on March 28, a Supplementary Agreement was signed between the same social partners in order to provide clarifications and precisions to the previous Agreement hypothesis.
The National Collective Bargaining Agreement is thus renewed and will have a four-year term, valid (for the economic part) from April 1, 2023 until March 31, 2027.
For the regulatory part, however, the renewal runs from April 1, 2024 until March 31, 2027.
With regard to the economic content of the agreement, there is a salary increase of 240 euros gross for the 4th level (with related repartitioning on the other contractual levels), to be paid in no. 6 tranches, at the following deadlines:
April 1, 2023 (this is the advance payment on future contractual increases agreed to by Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, which from April 1, 2024 is incorporated into base pay);
April 1, 2024;
March 1, 2025;
November 1, 2025;
November 1, 2026;
February 1, 2027.
Substantial changes were made to the regulatory part, redefining its scope and updating the classification of occupational profiles in the industry according to the new standards.
In fact, the business areas of both the trade and service sectors have been expanded. In particular, the area of organized distribution was integrated with parapharmacy products and the inclusion of the dark stores; while in the world of services, rental and sale services of audiovisual and software e hardware as well as general administrative services at private telematics universities, tax assistance centers and companies providing services for marketing operational.
In addition, improvements in gender policies have been introduced and additional allowances are provided for women victims of violence; specific reasons have been introduced for fixed-term employment contracts, to be used both for renewals (from the first renewal) and for extensions beyond 12 months and up to 24 months.
The Parties, sharing the importance of agile work as an organizational mode to reconcile work and life time, as well as to contribute to the reduction of environmental impact, with the Agreement of March 22, 2024, implemented the National Protocol of December 07, 2021 on Agile Work.
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On the economic side, we summarize the basic pay increases and their respective effective dates:
LEVEL | INCREASES FROM THE | ||||||
APRIL 1, 2023 (*) | APRIL 1, 2024 | 1 MARCH 2025 | 1 NOVEMRE 2025 | NOVEMBER 1, 2026 | FEBRUARY 1, 2027 | TOTAL | |
Squares | 52,08 | 121,53 | 52,08 | 60,76 | 60,76 | 69,44 | 416,65 |
I | 46,92 | 109,47 | 46,92 | 54,74 | 54,74 | 62,56 | 375,35 |
II | 40,58 | 94,69 | 40,58 | 47,35 | 47,35 | 54,11 | 324,66 |
III | 34,69 | 80,94 | 34,69 | 40,47 | 40,47 | 46,25 | 277,51 |
IV | 30,00 | 70,00 | 30,00 | 35,00 | 35,00 | 40,00 | 240,00 |
V | 27,10 | 63,24 | 27,10 | 31,62 | 31,62 | 36,14 | 216,82 |
VI | 24,33 | 56,78 | 24,33 | 28,39 | 28,39 | 32,44 | 194,66 |
VII | 20,83 | 48,61 | 20,83 | 24,31 | 24,31 | 27,78 | 166,67 |
(*) this is the AFAC agreed upon by Extraordinary Protocol dated December 12, 2022.
SALES OPERATORS | |||||||
CATEGORY | INCREASES FROM THE | TOTAL | |||||
APRIL 1, 2023 | APRIL 1, 2024 | 1 MARCH 2025 | 1 NOVEMRE 2025 | NOVEMBER 1, 2026 | FEBRUARY 1, 2027 |
| |
I | 28,32 | 66,08 | 28,32 | 33,04 | 33,04 | 37,76 | 226,56 |
II | 23,78 | 55,48 | 23,78 | 27,74 | 27,74 | 31,70 | 190,22 |
Below are the new base wages and their respective cadences, taking into account increases in minimum wages:
LEVEL | MINIMUM WAGES - BASE PAY AS OF. | |||||
APRIL 1, 2023 (*) | APRIL 1, 2024 | 1 MARCH 2025 | 1 NOVEMRE 2025 | NOVEMBER 1, 2026 | FEBRUARY 1, 2027 | |
Squares | 1.948,72 | 2.070,25 | 2.122,33 | 2.183,09 | 2.243,85 | 2.313,29 |
I | 1.755,41 | 1.864,88 | 1.911,80 | 1.966,55 | 2.021,28 | 2.083,84 |
II | 1.518,42 | 1.613,11 | 1.653,69 | 1.701,04 | 1.748,39 | 1.802,50 |
III | 1.297,84 | 1.378,78 | 1.413,47 | 1.453,94 | 1.494,41 | 1.540,66 |
IV | 1.122,46 | 1.192,46 | 1.222,46 | 1.257,46 | 1.292,46 | 1.332,46 |
V | 1.014,11 | 1.077,35 | 1.104,45 | 1.136,07 | 1.167,69 | 1.203,83 |
VI | 910,44 | 967,22 | 991,55 | 1.019,94 | 1.048,33 | 1.080,77 |
VII | 779,47 | 828,08 | 848,91 | 873,22 | 897,53 | 925,31 |
(*) this is the AFAC agreed upon by Extraordinary Protocol dated December 12, 2022.
SALES OPERATORS | ||||||
CATEGORY | MINIMUM WAGES - BASE PAY AS OF. | |||||
APRIL 1, 2023 | APRIL 1, 2024 | 1 MARCH 2025 | 1 NOVEMRE 2025 | NOVEMBER 1, 2026 | FEBRUARY 1, 2027 | |
I | 1.059,56 | 1.125,64 | 1.153,96 | 1.187,00 | 1.220,04 | 1.257,80 |
II | 887,96 | 943,44 | 967,22 | 994,96 | 1.022,70 | 1.054,40 |
To the above amounts are to be added:
- The function allowance for workers classified as QUADRI, amounting to 260.76 euros per month;
- The collective superminimum due to workers classified at level VII, amounting to 5.16 euros per month;
- The contingency allowance and separate element of pay, derived from the 1992 Inter-Confederation Agreement, as per the table below:
LEVEL | CONTINGENCY + EDR |
Squares | 540,37 |
I | 537,52 |
II | 532,54 |
III | 527,90 |
IV | 524,22 |
V | 521,94 |
VI | 519,76 |
VII | 517,51 |
OPV I cat. | 530,04 |
OPV II cat. | 526,11 |
Absorptions
The Contract Renewal Agreement stipulates in this regard that:
CANNOT be absorbed:
- Increases paid for merit, meaning those granted with reference to the employee's aptitude and performance;
- Increases resulting from seniority steps;
- Increases paid collectively and unilaterally by the employer during the 6 months immediately preceding the expiration of this contract (expired December 31, 2019).
They can be absorbed:
- Increases paid by companies regardless of collective bargaining agreements made in the union, provided for as absorbable by any union agreements;
and/or:
- Increases resulting from unilateral acts, provided they are expressly established at the time of grant as an advance or down payment on future contractual increases, disbursed as of January 1, 2022.
With the supplementary agreement of March 28, 2024, it was confirmed that this last point is to be interpreted as meaning that, the advance on future contractual increases (AFAC) of 30 euros referring to level IV, as an increase in base pay, and the amounts one-off of 350 euros referring to level IV provided for in the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, cannot be absorbed by the pay increases paid from April 2024 to February 2027, nor by the amount as a one-time payment, payable in July 2024 and July 2025, provided for in the renewal agreement of March 22, 2024.
Una Tantum
In order to fully cover the contractual gap period (January 1, 2020 - March 31, 2023), as a supplement to the provisions of the December 12, 2022 Extraordinary Protocol, the social partners have provided for the disbursement of a "One-time" amount.
Una Tantum is only payable to workers in force as of March 22, 2024, and is to be disbursed in No. 2 tranches, according to the following schedule by classification level:
ONE-OFF TABLE | ||
LEVEL | ONE-TIME PAYMENT TO BE MADE ON 01/07/2024 | ONE-TIME PAYMENT TO BE MADE AS OF 01/07/2025 |
Squares | 303,81 | 303,81 |
I | 273,67 | 273,67 |
II | 236,73 | 236,73 |
III | 202,34 | 202,34 |
IV | 175,00 | 175,00 |
V | 158,11 | 158,11 |
VI | 141,95 | 141,95 |
VII | 121,53 | 121,53 |
Sales operators | ||
I Category | 165,20 | 165,20 |
II Category | 138,69 | 138,69 |
The amount is divisible into 15 monthly installments., is determined in proportion to the duration of the relationship and actual service during the period from January 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
We reiterate that the One-Time Amount is disbursed in two tranches: one with payroll accruing in July 2024 and the other with payroll accruing in July 2025.
To apprentices in force as of March 22, 2024, the One-Time Payment will be paid on a reproportionate basis according to the salary schedule in the July 30, 2019 Collective Bargaining Agreement, with the same effective dates of July 2024 and July 2025.
The Una Tantum must be proportionally reduced in the case of unpaid absences or expectations, must be re-proportioned for periods of part-time work, for suspensions and/or reductions in working hours agreed upon by union agreement, or in the case of hiring/termination, as well as in the case of part-time/full-time conversions and vice versa, change of classification level during the period of reference of the same.
In addition, for the purpose of accruing a month's entitlement to the Una Tantum portion, the now-established computation criterion in our CCNL, which also considers as a full month the fraction greater than or equal to 15 days, applies.
The Una Tantum is not useful for the computation of any contractual institution, and it is not a useful amount for Severance Pay purposes.
According to well-established negotiating practice between the Parties, any amounts already paid by employers as future contractual increases and/or contractual improvements and disbursed as of January 1, 2022, are to be considered to all intents and purposes advances of the "One-Time" amounts indicated in the Agreement. It is understood that the advance payment portion of future contractual increases established by the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, is not considered as such, as it has currently become a tranche of contractual increase for all purposes as provided for in Article 213 of the CCNL.
With the supplementary agreement of March 28, 2024, it was confirmed that this last point is to be interpreted as meaning that, the advance on future contractual increases of 30 euros referred to level IV (and prorated for the other levels), as an increase in base pay, and the amounts one-off of 350 euros referred to level IV (and repartameterized for the other levels), provided for by the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, cannot be absorbed by the pay increases paid from April 2024 to February 2027, nor by the amount as a Una Tantum, payable in July 2024 and July 2025, provided for in the renewal agreement of March 22, 2024.
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The Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire on March 31, 2027, and if, six months after the expiration of the contract, the parties have not reached a renewal agreement, employees must be paid a provisional element of pay (so-called: "Contractual Holiday Allowance"), for 14 monthly payments and quantified in the amount of 30% of the current year's forecast IPCA index (net of important energies), applied to the current contractual minimum wages, including the former contingency allowance. The contractual vacation allowance amount may be absorbed, up to its full amount, exclusively by amounts granted on account or in advance of future contractual increases subsequently March 31, 2027.
Funding bilateral territorial bodies
The contractual norm specified that the contribution to be paid to the territorial bilateral body by the company (to the extent of 0.10 percent of base pay + contingency) and the worker (to the extent of 0.05 percent of base pay + contingency) must be paid for 14 monthly payments and includes the contribution to support the activities of the Bilateral Joint Commissions.
Consequently, the company that fails to pay the aforementioned contribution is required to pay the employee the Distinguished Pay Element (E.D.R.), equal to 0.30 percent of base pay + contingency, scheduled to be paid to the employee for 14 monthly payments.
EST Fund
An increase of 3.00 euros in the employer contribution on EST Fund was established, effective April 1, 2025.
Health care fund "Qu.A.S."
An increase of a total of 40 euros in the employer contribution was established, including 20 euros as of January 1, 2025, and an additional 20 euros as of January 1, 2026.
New Classification of Personnel
A major intervention involved a detailed review and update of the occupational figures contained in the personnel classification.
In this regard, it should be noted that the statement on the record in Article 113 and 115 of this CCNL provided that the upgrades of professional figures included in the above articles shall apply to personnel hired as of March 22, 2024 while for figures in force on that date, any coordination will have to be carried out in the company.
For the purpose of professional apprenticeship hires only, the entry into force of the new classification system will take effect from June 1, 2024. Consequently, until the same date and for the same purposes, the previous professional figures will remain in force.
The main changes concern the abolition of professional figures considered obsolete and at the same time new figures were introduced, including: "the head of training processes and related supply chain," as well as "the optometrist" and the "parapharmacy pharmacist" along with the inclusion of more current figures such as" the remote sales person" and the "e-commerce" (the latter at Level V in the first 18 months after recruitment).
In addition, in the field of drug distribution, the Parties have committed to regulate by the end of December 2025 the permanence of the figure of the "commissioning fitter" in drug wholesale warehouses with the help of computer aids, currently framed at level V of the classification.
Among the new figures was the reorganization of the classification system for personnel employed by companies in the service area where exemplifications of professional figures operating in the macro-areas of advertising, marketing and communication/events (Sec. A), market research (Sec. B) as well as auditing and business consulting (Sec. C), which are also considered a reference for all companies within the scope of application of the CCNL, were defined. The entire Information and Communication Technology macro area was, likewise, updated.
In addition, provision was made for the establishment of a special technical committee to define additional figures working in the sector, including creative and cultural enterprises, within the contractual term.
Introduction of reasons for fixed-term contracts
The Parties have defined the grounds for legitimate termination of the individual employment contract of more than 12 months, but in any case not exceeding 24 months, or in cases of contract renewals (grounds to be included from the first renewal).
It is recalled that, as a result of the current provisions, from the effective date of this CCNL (April 1, 2024) it will no longer be possible to affix the reasons at the individual level for needs of a technical, organizational or productive nature, provided for until December 31, 2024 by Article 19, paragraph 1, letter b), of Legislative Decree No. 81/2015), since those of a collective nature will take over as a supplement.
The causes introduced in this contract renewal are listed here:
1) Balances. Workers hired during periods affected by sales related to end-of-season sales, both winter and summer, as per specific regional regulations, fall into this category;
2) Fairs. Workers hired during periods affected by the holding of fairs identified by the national and international fair calendar between seven days before and seven days after the fair fall under this heading;
3) Christmas holidays.. Workers hired during the Christmas holidays, more specifically during the period between November 15 and January 15, fall into this category;
4) Easter holidays. Workers hired during Easter holidays, more specifically during the period between fifteen days before and fifteen days after Easter Day, fall into this category;
5) Environmental impact reduction. This includes workers hired with specific professional skills and employed directly in organizational processes and/or production processes that have the objective of reducing the environmental impact of those processes.i;
6) Advanced tertiary. This includes workers hired for
specific tasks of designing, implementing and servicing and selling innovative products, including digital products, in the advanced tertiary sector. In this regard, this includes all those activities related to all stages of development-even one of them-of a product that is innovative, such as high-tech products, or new materials or services that help improve the level of performance and make processes more efficient;
7) Digitization. This includes workers hired with specific professional skills for the development of methodologies and new skills in the digital field;
8) New openings. Included in this casuistry are workers hired for openings of new production/operating units and restructuring in the maximum period of 24 months from the day of the new opening of production/operating units or in the maximum period of 24 months in the phase of restructuring of production/operating units, understood as expansion of sales area or opening of new departments. It should be noted that the casuistry also includes restructuring processes - in addition to new openings of production/operating units - understood as such, purely by way of example, including diversification or expansion of services offered by an enterprise.
With regard to new openings, the Parties also agreed to exclude such employment relationships from the quota limits-as provided for in Article 23, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree No. 81/2015-only employment relationships established in the first 12 months after the new opening. In addition, it should be noted that these regulations do not include start-up/start-up operations of new activities, which, on the other hand, are already regulated in Art. 76 of the CCNL;
9) Temporary increase. This includes workers hired for temporary projects or assignments lasting more than 12 months or extended beyond 12 continuous months, for a maximum duration of 24 months.
The aforementioned grounds may be legitimately affixed to contracts longer than 12 and not exceeding 24 for extensions or renewals of contracts beyond 12 months or for the renewal of a contract (regardless of the duration) and should be detailed to justify the reasons in relation to the duration, beyond the mere "title," to avoid the risk of litigation.
It is important to emphasize that these reasons can be used by all enterprises applying this CCNL, without any distinction between production sectors.
In addition to these, second-level, territorial and/or company bargaining may identify additional causes. Such bargaining may also: agree on paths of stabilization of fixed-term contracts; verify that the employment opportunities in the cases provided for in this article may also be aimed at increasing the hours of part-time workers present in the production units; identify events/fires/events relevant to the territorial context such as to justify hiring workers in the periods affected by the holding of events/fires/events between seven days before and seven days after the event/fiere/event. This reason may be legitimately affixed to contracts with a duration of more than 12 months and not exceeding 24 for extensions or renewals of contracts beyond 12 months or for the renewal of a contract (regardless of duration).
Parental Leave
With regard to parental leave, the Contract reflects the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 105/2022 "Implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 20, 2019 on work-life balance for parents and caregivers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU," transposing the recent regulatory amendments to Art. 34 of Legislative Decree No. 151/2001 regarding parental leave and thus adjusting contractual provisions both in relation to the duration of the leave and the amount of the allowance due.
The same contractual provision also introduced an additional specification referring to the incidence of individual institutions while taking parental leave. In particular, it stipulated that periods of parental leave are counted in the seniority of service and do not entail a reduction in vacation, rest (ROL or former holidays), additional monthly payments except for the ancillary emoluments related to actual presence in service.
Lastly, the notice period within which the employee is required to notify the employer of the request for parental leave was reduced to 5 days (previously it was 15 days).
Leave for women victims of violence
According to the provisions of Article 24 of Legislative Decree No. 80 of June 15, 2015, the right to abstain from work for a maximum period of 90 working days has been provided in favor of female workers included in protection pathways related to gender-based violence, duly certified by the social services of the municipality of residence, anti-violence centers or shelters.
For the purpose of exercising the right, the employee, except in cases of objective impossibility, is required both to give the employer not less than seven days' notice and to produce the certification attesting to her inclusion in the relevant pathways.
During the period of leave, the worker is entitled to an allowance corresponding to her final salary, which is advanced by the employer and set off against contributions due to Inps in the same manner as for maternity benefits.
The leave may be taken on an hourly or daily basis over a period of three years. The worker may choose between daily and hourly use, with the understanding that use on an hourly basis is allowed to the extent of half the average daily schedule for the month immediately preceding the month in which the leave begins.
Elastic clauses in part-time labor relations
Concerning part-time contracts, it was stipulated that as of January 1, 2025, the allowance to be paid to the employee for affixing the elastic clause on the individual employment contract increases from 120 to 155 euros annually non-cumulative, to be paid in monthly installments.
For all the news, please refer to the National Collective Bargaining Agreement, which can be viewed in the attachments below:
News Study:
Confcommercio Hypothetical agreement 22.03.2024:
ANNEX 2 CCNL TDS March 28, 2024 Supplementary Minutes:
Confcommercio operational clarifications CCNL renewal:
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