The leap is clear and tells the dark side of the work. Relationships that end abruptly, disagreements over salaries, rights claimed. Non 2023, 2,445 new civil proceedings in the field of labor law were registered before the Court of Bergamo: numbers in hand, considering a typical “judicial” week from Monday to Friday, it means almost a dozen cases initiated every day. Above all, the surge is evident from the periodic monitoring of the Ministry of Justice: last year, litigation in this matter increased by 40.6% compared to the 1,739 proceedings initiated in 2022; and it is unprecedented even in the recent past, given that in 2021 there were 1,695 new civil proceedings relating to employment, in 2020 there were 1,763, in 2019 the “counter” stopped at 1,845.
The causes
But what is behind these numbers? «Civil litigation in labor matters has also increased at a national level – he observes Giulio Marchesi, president of the Bergamo Bar Association – and is mainly affected by the difficulties in having a stable job. It is a condition that very often affects young people, who struggle for a long time between internships, apprenticeships, but there are naturally causes that concern long-term workers. Also affecting dispute in court». It is happening on a large scale, just look at the rest of our judicial district: from 2022 to 2023 the new proceedings registered in the Court of Appeal in Brescia (the second degree) went from 192 to 242 (+26%), while always level of courts (the first degree), that of Brescia recorded an increase of 16.2% in new registrations (from 1,642 to 1,908 proceedings), that of Cremona a growth of 46% (from 446 to 652 new proceedings), Mantua a +33.4% (from 554 to 739 new proceedings). Among the cases, Marchesi points out, there is also «a notable dispute linked to carers, where the rate of irregularities is high: when that informal relationship ends, the carers legitimately turn to the union to assert their rights. More generally, there is a more evident season of claiming rights».
«The issue of salary differences is one of the most common reasons: these are disputes in which the worker disputes wages that are too low, due to the application of “pirate” contracts, i.e. those that are not signed by the main trade unions and employers’ organisations.
The case studies
Before arriving in court, among other things, very often a solution is sought that does not involve lawyers and judges: «Most of our disputes end with a conciliation or settlement agreement in the union – he begins Alberto Citerio, director of the Disputes Office of the CISL Bergamo –, but legal disputes have certainly also increased during 2023. Most of this dispute concerns the tertiary sector, including trade, large-scale distribution and services, also because it is a sector that employs a very large number of people, then mechanics, construction, transport and logistics. Indeed, transport and logistics are the new frontier: as their weight in our economy grows, litigation also increases.”
Citerio goes into the specifics of some of the most frequent cases: «The issue of salary differences is one of the most common – explains the trade unionist –: these are disputes in which the worker contests wages that are too low, due to the application of “pirate” contracts, that is, those that are not signed by the main trade unions and employers’ organisations. Among other things, the succession of Supreme Court rulings is confirming an orientation to protect article 36 of the Constitution, which provides for proportionate remuneration”.
Decisive growth
Silvia Rivola, head of the Disputes Office of the CGIL Bergamo, puts the numbers of its branch in line and confirms the trajectory of strong growth. Very decisive: «In the first quarter of this year – explains the trade unionist –, our office handled 123% more cases (both simple consultancy and matters that lead to actual litigation, ed.) compared to the same quarter of 2023. These are disputes of a much more varied nature than in the past, with one underlying theme: previously workers were more inclined to let it go, but now there is less willingness to ignore. This reversal of trend was noticed after 2020: in the year of the pandemic, in light of the uncertainty of the job market, even more borderline situations were accepted, while now there is a legitimate and full claim to one’s rights”.
In the private sector, complaints related to dismissals and salary differences are increasing
Still other cases: «Public employment has shown a recent increase linked to two rulings that have become jurisprudence – explains Rivola -. One is linked to the monetization of public employee holidays which are not paid upon termination of the relationship, the other ruling concerns the increase in a salary item (the Ria, the individual seniority salary, ed.) which led to a fair amount of litigation. In the private sector, however, disputes linked to dismissals and salary differences are increasing, while after the Labor Decree of May 2023, disputes linked to fixed-term contracts have decreased, because that decree led to a substantial liberalization of the reasons.”
