Agile working: the social partners of the Veneto craft industry sign the new agreement

With the expiry on 31 March of the law relating to smart working introduced during the Covid emergency period, from 1 April the discipline is once again entrusted to collective bargaining.

On 4 April, the social partners of the Veneto craft sector signed an inter-confederal agreement which defines the regulatory framework within which the individual agreements must be included which will allow workers in the craft sector to be able to carry out their tasks in an agile way..

The new agreement confirms the protagonism of territorial bargaining and Venetian bilateralism in organizational renewal processes which affect an ever-increasing number of small Veneto businesses. “The years of the pandemic have shown us that a cultural leap on the part of companies, even the smallest ones, of workers is possible. We have understood that we can also work outside the standardized paradigms of time and place of work by activating new relationship systems based on trust and the achievement of objectives, without losing competitiveness. Craftsmanship relaunches and focuses on a new idea of ​​work that can be innovative, inclusive and sustainable. For us, agile working is also an additional tool to attract new workers, new resources, new skills and to allow our companies to grow and remain competitive” comment by Roberto Boschetto of Confartigianato Imprese Veneto, Moreno Dal Col of CNA Veneto and Franco Storer of Casartigiani del Veneto.

Already in 2019, the matter had been the subject of an agreement between the parties, the first in Italy, to regulate in a collective agreement a topic that would shortly become normal due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

The new agreement, which updates what was foreseen in the past, also introduces important innovations in line with the changing needs of companies, workers. In particular, the agreement intervenes on issues such as working hours, places, technological equipment, also implementing the guidelines set out in the protocol signed at national level by the social partners and the Ministry of Labour.

For the General Secretaries of CGIL, CISL and UIL of Veneto Tiziana Basso, Gianfranco Refosco and Roberto Toigothe value of the new regional agreement on agile working in the craft sector is to define, through collective bargaining, the perimeter and the criteria which must then be applied to each specific agreement in individual companies: “Let’s think about the limits and duration of the working hours work performance, the right to disconnect, equal economic and regulatory treatment with respect to those present in the company, the protection of the health and safety of workers, as well as monitoring the diffusion of this important opportunity, also for effects of reconciling life and work.”

Artisan bilateralism, also in the new agreement, plays a catalytic role to encourage further development of agile working by supporting businesses and workers in activating organizational renewal processes that can interpret the new challenges of competitiveness and sustainability. The project activities for the implementation of smart working and the expenses for the collective training of workers and for the updating of the Risk Assessment Document will be supported with specific subsidies from the bilateral body EBAV.

Agile working 2024 signed