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From: Comitato Aziendale Europeo e Relazioni Internazionali; Politica aziendale e risultati economici; Documents in English

5th IWIS Conference
Roma, May 21-25

             5th IWIS Conference             Roma, May 21-25, 1991

                               Country Presentation

                                      ITALY

         1) POLITICAL AND ECONOMICAL SITUATION

         In last two  years  the  Italian  Government has been formed by
         Christian Democrats, Socialists and Liberals.
         The Prime Minister has been the  Christian  Democrat Giulio An-
         dreotti.
         In April a  crisis  occurred, but in the end a  new  Government
         will be formed  by  the same coalition of political parties and
         with the same Prime Minister.
         In the last years the political atmosphere is quite oriented in
         to transforming the public companies into private ones and wea-
         kening the Welfare State approach.
         One of the main reasons for this is that private companies have
         been strongly reorganised in these years, with good results for
         the companies themselves and for the stockholders.
         On the contrary,the Public Sector suffers of many malfunctions,
         great delays and considerable inefficiency. The Private has be-
         come the model to which the Public  Sector refers: in Italy the
         British model by Margaret Thachter has survived to its mother‚‚

         In 1990 the members of the unions were 10,047,110 :
         5,147,110 (51.23%) in CGIL
         3,500,000 (34.83%) in CISL
         1,400,000 (13.93%) in UIL

         The unemployed people, about 3 millions, represent  13%  of the
         working population (24  million  people)and they are concentra-
         ted ,for the most part, in southern  Italy  (in  northern Italy
         the percentage of unemployment is 4%).
         A significant part of the unemployment (50%) is  represented by
         young people looking for their first work activity.
         The inflation rate is about 7%.
         The purchasing power of wages and salaries has increased in the
         Public Sector, and  it has rather decreased in the Private Sec-
         tor, especially in the industrial one.

         The last Metalmechanical workers contract, which has been rene-
         wed in 1990 and which also applies  to all IBM workers, has not
         been able to satisfy wages demands of the workers, also because
         of the productivity in the industrial area that  has enormously
         increased during last years.

         2) IBM IN ITALY IN 1990

         In September 1990  IBM ITALIA SPA past away because of its mer-
         ging in IBM S.E.M.E.A. (South Europe  Middle  East Africa) that
         was just born in June 1990; as far as this event  is concerned,
         we shall speak about in the specific meeting session.

         At the present  moment  we  have not yet the results achieve by
         IBM in 1990; what we can show, here  following, are the results
         year end 1989:

         REVENUE total        5810   million US $
                 from Italy   3373        "
                 from export  2437        "
         PROFIT                464        "
         ROYALTIES
         INVESTMENTS           395        "

         The mean inflation rate in Italy in 1990 was about 6.0%
         At the end  of  1990 14802 people were working in IBM Italy, of
         which 3353 in the production plants  (in Vimercate, near Milan,
         and in Santa Palomba, near Rome). There were 375 employees wor-
         king in the Software Laboratory in Rome and 15  employees  were
         working in the Scientific Centres in Pisa. During 1990 380 peo-
         ple resigned, and 954 people were employed.  The women represen
         ted 23% of the workers.
         At the end  of  1990  about 300 people were working with a part
         time contract and the most part of them are women.

         As far as personnel expenses were  concerned,IBM in Italy spent
         the following sums during 1989 :

         Wages and salaries           910   million US $
         Integrative Pension Plan       8        "
         Accident Insurance Plan        5        "
         Medical Insurance Plan         4        "
         Cafeteria                               "
         Special awards & Contests               "

         About Integrative Pension Plan in 1990 IBM spent  about 10 mil-
         lion US $ and, about Accident Insurance Plan, 4 million Us $.

         As far as  the  plants  were  concerned,  the production had an
         increase of 16% on 1988.

         3) UNION ACTIVITY IN IBM ITALY

         As inside of IBM Italy the trend towards a more rigorous restri
         ction of expenses goes on, the standards  are decreasing in al-
         most every department.
         The attention of the Company, and the distribution of the merit
         salary, is quite focused on managers and salesmen : between the
         other workers the  salary  increases are less consistent,  more
         delayed and concerning fewer employees than years ago.
         In October 1989 IBM Unions signed an agreement with the company
         after a hard struggle started on may the 3rd 1989 with the pre-
         sentation of the platform of demands.
         The most significant conquests are the following:

         1) SALARY :     institution  of a new production bonus which is
                        related to the economic  results  of the company
                        and is based on individual wage; a minimum value
                        of this  production bonus is guaranteed  anyway;
                        the increase of individual wage is about 6.5%;

         2) WORKING HOURS:  a) the possibility of being in part time for
                               a fixed  period (e.g. 2 years) (unlimited
                               part time is confirmed);
                            b) the  possibility of temporary retirements
                               for a maximum period of 1 year not payed;

         3) TRANSFERS :    introduction  of  an allowance of 10 US $ per
                           night in addition to the refund  of  all  ex-
                           penses, as  an acknowledgement of the uneasi-
                           ness of staying far from home

         5) INFORMATION : a) about significant  changes  and reorganiza-
                             tion before they take place
                          b) about education, with data referred  to ti-
                             pology of  courses, number of employees in-
                             volved and number of student days;

         As far as the health of the unions  inside of IBM Italy is con-
         cerned, the situation is not particularly brilliant.
         The union members are about 1200 (9.6% of the workers)  and the
         union executives not more than 65 .
         Though more and  more  IBMers  trust  the unionists and approve
         their strategy, decisions and behaviour, on the other hand they
         are not much interested in active  participation  and  involve-
         ment. It is difficult to have new union executives  and  to  be
         present in locations (particularly in the branch offices) where
         we are missing.

         4) EMPLOYMENT

         In I.B.M. Italy  there  are  14802 workers that operate in many
         towns and countries; they are concentrated in the plants of Vi-
         mercate (near Milan) and Santa Palomba (near Roma) where opera-
         te 3353 workers; in Milan where  operate about 5000 workers and
         Rome where operate about 2000.  The following  table  shows the
         evolution of IBM  population  in  Italy since 1979,and the plot
         shows the distribution between manufacturing  and no-manufactu-
         ring workers.

         *    Year    *   Total    *  No        *  Manufact. *  % Manuf*
         *            *   Workers  *  Manufact. *  Workers   *  Workers*
         *            *            * Workers    *            *  on Tot.*
         ***************************************************************
         *    1979    *   11097    *   8043     *   3054     *  27.52  *
         *    1980    *   11722    *   8458     *   3264     *  27.84  *
         *    1981    *   12347    *   8966     *   3381     *  27.38  *
         *    1982    *   12645    *   9014     *   3631     *  28.71  *
         *    1983    *   12649    *   8948     *   3701     *  29.25  *
         *    1984    *   12690    *   9051     *   3639     *  28.67  *
         *    1985    *   13236    *   9532     *   3704     *  27.98  *
         *    1986    *   13488    *   9841     *   3647     *  27.03  *
         *    1987    *   13565    *   9957     *   3608     *  26.59  *
         *    1988    *   13809    *  10306     *   3503     *  25.36  *
         *    1989    *   14228    *  10918     *   3310     *  23.26  *
         *    1990    *   14802    *  11449     *   3353     *  22.65  *
         ***************************************************************


         From this distribution we can immediately perceive  that  manu-
         facturing workers reached their maximum in 1983 (29%) and that,
         in the years  after,  the trend become negative down to the 22%
         in 1990. The situation of manufacturing  on  over  the world is
         very, very bad, taking also into account that many  plants have
         closed in U.S.A.,in Netherlands and in France.Italian Unionists
         think that it is necessary to focus the attention on manufactu-
         ring in IBM  and especially on the employment in the plants IBM
         Italy workers, like Italian metalmechanicals workers, are divi-
         ded in 7 categories according to the type of activity they car-
         ry out. Workmen cannot be over the fifth category and employees
         can be over the fifth category in the case of high skill.
         Now I.B.M. Italy situation is the following:

                        WORKMEN     EMPLOYEES    TOP MANAGERS
                         3.91%        82.09%         14.00%

         If we look the percentages of Exempt  and  Not  Exempt workers,
         the situation is the following:

                        NOT EXEMPT               EXEMPT
                          27.98%                 72.02%

         Women are about 23% of total workers.
         There is also people that work "part-time"; their working hours
         are 20 divided in 4 hours in 5 days per week.
         Now in I.B.M.  there are 298 workers on part-time contracts (2%
         of total workers) and they are principally  women.  This is no-
         manufacturing part-time situation:

         categories    *      WOMEN     *        MEN        * TOTAL
         *************************************************************
               4       *        13      *         1         *   14
                       *                *                   *
               5       *       140      *         4         *  144
                       *                *                   *
               6       *        45      *         0         *   45
         *************************************************************
         TOTAL         *       198      *         5         *  203
         *************************************************************

         All cases of part-time contracts coming from full-time ones (40
         hours divided in five days per week).
         The unique exception is that of 20 hours a week part-time divi-
         ded in 3 days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday); in  this case we
         have new hired  people,their type of activity is C.E. Installa-
         tion and, now, they are only 7 men.

         In addition IBM in Italy use temporary contracts formally devo-
         ted to professional education training  for a maximum period of
         2 years. This labour condition is a consequence of an agreement
         between the National Union and National Employers  Associations
         which provide that,  two  years passed,Employers may confirm or
         not this temporary contracts; these  contracts have many fiscal
         facility from Government.
         At present workers with temporary contracts are 298.

         Wages in I.B.M. is composed by two parts:
         - salary determined by agreement between Metalmechanical Unions
           and National Employers Associations and also between IBM Uni-
           on and IBM Italy;
         - merit salary completely controlled by IBM.
         Merit salary accounts, in the average, for 30% of  total wages.
         About merit salary let us say that the trend is quite negative;
         IBM in Italy  continue  to reduce salary budget and so the time
         between merit salary increases  is  large and the increases are
         focused on Sales Men and managers.
         IBM in Italy has a "must": reduce and reduce the costs.
         The Company realise this reducing wages, employees  number  and
         allocations.

         5) WORKING CONDITIONS

         Metalmechanicals National Contract  determined  working  condi-
         tions.
         Working hours are 40 divided in  5  days  per week (8 hours per
         day) for all workers except part-time workers  (20  hours)  and
         top management.
         Overtime work is  allowed  but cannot exceed 150 hours per year
         and it is not allowed on Sunday  with some exceptions stated by
         law (like in case of public services) or by I.B.M. Union agree-
         ments (like in case of C.E.).
         IBM Union must be informed in advance and afterwards but,often,
         the Company gives only consolidated information  about overtime
         hours.
         We really control overtime only in the not exempt area, because
         they must register  on  a card initial and final working hours;
         effectively IBM in Italy gives  consolidated  information about
         overtime hours just for not exempt workers and declares formal-
         ly not to ask overtime to exempt workers,though the real situa-
         tion is wildly different.

                      PERCENTAGE OVERTIME INCREASE SALARY

               *************************************************
               OVERTIME UP TO 8   HOURS IN A WEEK    *    45%  *
               OVERTIME SINCE 9th HOUR  IN A WEEK    *    35%  *
               *************************************************

         As far as shift is concerned, working hours are 37.5 and, after
         the realisation of an agreement between IBM Union  and IBM Ita-
         ly, percentage increase  is 12% for day shift work and, for the
         case of night shift work (after  7 p.m.), it must added 35 per-
         centage increase.
         There are finally 3 important agreements about night  overtime,
         Sunday overtime and Saturday overtime:

         1 - night overtime between 10 p.m. and 7 p.m. percentage salary
             increase is 165% and the workers must have not paid absence
             for so many hours as overtime hours;
         2 - Sunday  work  is  allowed  in C.E. area at this conditions:
             daily hours ----------------> 65% percentage increase
             night hours  ---------------->   80%   percentage  increase
             planning activity ----------> 3 hours bonus
             not planning activity ------> 6 hours bonus;
             Sunday C.E. workers must have paid absence for  an half day
             if working  hours  are since 4,one day if working hours are
             up to 8 and so on;
         3 - Saturday work has 65% salary  increase and the workers must
             have a paid absence for half hours than the hours they wor-
             ked; these hours of paid absence can be added  and used all
             together in 3 months starting Saturday work.


         In the following plots the evolution of overtime for not exempt
         in the last years in Milano, Segrate e Basiano:

         YEAR* TOT OVT.  *      NIGHT OVT           *   SUNDAY C.E.
             *           * made    absence diff.    *  made    absence
         *************************************************************
         '80 * 103855.50 * 3367.05 2472.60 - 895.05 *
         '81 * 122231.25 * 3404.75 2549.33 - 855.42 *
         '82 * 118692.00 * 3381.21 2871.45 - 509.80 *
         '83 * 114815.50 * 4249.75 2818.83 -1430.92 *
         '84 * 112288.00 * 3369.25 2879.53 - 489.72 *
         '85 * 116872.00 * 2877.89 2271.89 - 606.00 *  404.75   424.00
         '86 * 113852.25 * 2271.79 2132.25 - 139.44 *  752.50   880.00
         '87 * 108104.10 * 2503.25 2104.88 - 398.37 * 1434.00  1740.00
         '88 *  96725.25 * 2330.50 2029.47 - 301.03 * 1178.00  1452.00
         '89 *  97752.50 * 2915.55 2449.34 - 466.21 * 1880.00  2068.00
         '90 *  65140.00 * 2440.00 2063.72 - 176.28 * 1474.50  1660.00
         *************************************************************

         On 1990 the data are up to the end of September because, at the
         present, we have not yet year end situation.

         And now any  diagrams about night overtime and not paid absence
         in Milan, Segrate and Basiano:


         The situation of working hours is  better than years ago becau-
         se, especially thanks to the agreements between  IBM  Union and
         the Company, real working hours are about 40 and,from Union po-
         int of view, this is a great satisfaction.
         This is the  true  for all not exempt workers; as far as exempt
         workers is concerned, we can only  estimate their working hours
         because they just sign the presence and do not register initial
         and final time.

         To conclude about working hours subject we want  to speak about
         agreements on the occasion of collective transfers. The most im
         portant was in  1975 from Milan to Segrate (12 km. from each o-
         ther): IBM Union stipulated an agreement with I.B.M. Italy that
         provides a reduction of one hour  an  and half of working hours
         and a reduction of the lunch interval from 60  to  45  minutes.
         This agreement was  extended  also  to  Rome-EUR  where working
         hours have a weekly reduction of  one  hour and 15 minutes and,
         later,to Basiano (25 km. from Milan) where the reduction is the
         same of Segrate.

         Health has always been a very important subject  for Unions and
         for IBM Union.
         During last years we paid much attention to the problems of wor
         kers that use Video Display Terminals.
         First there was  a  consultation of the workers on defining de-
         mands and this has been done by means of questionnaire and mee-
         meetings.
         After a phase  of  struggle we reached that, every two years,an
         ophthalmology and ophthalmologist  equip  is at worker disposal
         in IBM locations for visits; when the diagnosis is that special
         lenses are necessary for using Video Display Terminal, IBM must
         refund all expenses for the new glasses.
         Talking about health, we would also like to recall that an agre
         ement between IBM Union and the Company provided a Medical Insu
         rance Fund used to integrate Public Health System (to which IBM
         must contribute) and that, on the consequence of  Italian laws,
         employers must hire a certain percentage of handicapped people.

         6) LIBERTIES

         National Union Rights:
         workers meetings           :10 hours per year, paid, during wor
                                     king hours and with no limit out of
                                     working hours;
                                     in any case the employer must provi
                                     de the room for meeting;
         Union bulletin boards       :at  least one board for each loca-
                                     tion;
         Union offices              :if there  are more than 200 workers
                                     in a  location, the  employer  must
                                     provide an office for the Union ac-
                                     tivity;
                                     if the  workers  are  less than 200
                                     the  room must be provided tempora-
                                     rely by request;
         paid leaves                :for Union executives 1 day per mon-
                                     th; not  paid leaves  can  reach  8
                                     days per year;
         check off                  :that  is  how all Union Members pay
                                     their contributions;
         transfer of Union executives:it  cannot take place if the Union
                                     does not agree.

         IBM Union rights.
         Before 1969, the Union representatives in the company  were ap-
         pointed by the  three National Unions CGIL, CISL and UIL. After
         1969 in every location the "Consigli  di  Fabbrica"  appear and
         they are elected by all workers, member of not  of  the Unions.
         The biggest "Consigli  di Fabbrica" are in Milan with 60 branch
         executives, Vimercate with 50, Rome with 30 and in Santa Palom-
         ba with 9; in the small locations there may be at least 3 bran-
         ch executives.
         The maximum numbers of hours of  paid leave for branch executi-
         ves in order to accomplish their mission is annually:

              10500     hours       for          Milan
               8500     hours       for          Vimercate
               3500     hours       for          Rome
               3000     hours       for          Santa Palomba
               6500     hours       for          other locations

         Every single branch executive cannot use more than  24 hours of
         paid leave per month, except in case of Union courses,seminars,
         meetings, etc.
         There is also  a National Committee composed by members elected
         by each "Consiglio di Fabbrica", in proportion to the number of
         workers they represent.
         Any times IBM Italy wants to speak  to  or bargain with the Na-
         tional Committee and, if it is available and advisable,all  ex-
         penses to convoke the members in Milan (where meetings with IBM
         take place) are paid by the company.
         On April the  23rd  1991  an agreement with IBM stated that the
         Company will pay  all expenses about 6 members that participate
         at 4 meeting per year; these members can use 2 days for each of
         these 4 meetings.

         Individual rights.
         The great part of this rights are  provided by a very important
         law:"STATUTO DEI DIRITTI DEI LAVORATORI" (Workers Rights State-
         ment).
         Also on the consequence of this law any kind of investigations,
         in the engagement phase too, on political, religion  and  Trade
         Unions opinions of workers is prohibited; there is complete fre
         edom to express one's own opinions at work; it is prohibited to
         have a remote  control  of the workers activity (for example by
         installing cameras in the work places or by using individual u-
         sers to access areas and data base);  dismissal  can take place
         only for a correct reason.
         Any right are coming from negotiate and agreement  between  IBM
         Unions and the Company.
         About transfers: agreement  on  June '74 stated that the worker
         must agree with I.B.M. on the transfer,otherwise  the  transfer
         cannot be done.  About badge areas: agreement of  1983 provided
         that the definition  of these areas must be negotiated with IBM
         Union and IBM cannot use personal badges but must use only gro-
         up badges.
         About data bases access: the agreement  states that personal u-
         sers cannot be used without negotiated with Unions; the discuss
         with company about this question has closed on  April  the 23rd
         1991; about this  agreement we want to give to all IWIS members
         a specific presentation.