The tripartite Pact for Employment was signed on 24 September
1996. It is intended to promote employment and foster economic development in
Italy through the introduction of a wide and complex set of policies.
The key points of the Pact for Employment are as follows.
Education and training. The reform of education and training
systems will involve a particular emphasis on training paths and continuing
education programmes.
Employment promotion. This involves the reform of some important
institutions:
apprenticeship contracts will be extended to cover all sectors,
including agriculture, and will be open to people aged 16-24 (26 in the
case of Southern Italy);
for the first time, temporary work agencies are now permitted in
Italian law. Agencies specifically authorised by the Ministry
of Labour will be able to hire workers and "lend" them
to other firms.
some subsidies and fiscal incentives are introduced for reductions in
working time.
Infrastructural policy. Important infrastructural public investment is
planned in order to boost national competitiveness and reduce the gap
between Northern and Southern Italy.
"Area pacts and agreements" (patti territoriali and contratti
d'area). These initiatives should promote new productive investment
in areas with low rates of development and high unemployment. They may be
concluded at any level, especially provinces, cities or large
neighbourhoods, within broad regional framework agreements. The Government
will identify target areas (mainly in Southern Italy), giving priority to
those in which these programmes are most likely to be successful. Area
agreements will be signed by the local administrations, trade unions and
employers' organisations, banks and any other interested parties. Economic
recovery of the areas involved will, it is planned, be assured by ad hoc
financing and targeted incentives, and through the operations of an agency
that will be responsible for promoting investment in such areas.
On 13 November 1998, the Italian government issued a legislative decree to
implement article 17 of the so-called "Treu law" (named for the former
minister of labour), issued on 24 June 1997. This law gave legislative backing
to the contents of the Pact for Employment signed in September 1996 by the
government, trade union organisations and employers' organisations.
The new regulation is based on the logic of concertation between public
authorities and social partners, and it strengthens the role of the latter in
the development of training activities, the allocation of financial resources
and the management of continuing vocational training. The most important aspects
of the regulation concern:
the participation of social partners and the regions in an
inter-ministerial commission which will be responsible for "drawing up
the guidelines on the use and allocation of national and European
resources";
the creation of an "intersectoral fund for the management of
continuing vocational training". This fund will be financed with a
contribution of 0.3% of paybill already paid by employers;
for the management of the new fund, a private foundation will be set up at
the Institute for the Development of Vocational Training (Istituto
per lo Sviluppo della Formazione dei Lavoratori, ISFOL),
the technical agency of the Ministry of Labour
concerned with vocational training. It will support - through financial
contributions - the implementation of continuing vocational training
initiatives provided for in plans agreed on between the social partners at
territorial and company level;
the social partners will participate in the management of the fund. A
special committee will thus be created within the new foundation to deal
with and monitor the fund's activity. This committee will be composed of
eight representatives of trade union organisations and eight representatives
of employers' organisations;
the continuing vocational training activities financed by the fund will
concern employees and the self-employed. The fund will also be able to
finance training activities for workers registered on "mobility
lists" and unemployed workers, if the training is aimed at securing
their recruitment; and
the fund will be divided in four independently managed sections, covering
industry, agriculture, services and the artisanal sector.
The legislative decree deals with some crucial subjects, allowing the Italian
training system to make a big step forward in terms of quality and coherent
reorganisation, bringing it closer into line with the best European practices.
All vocational training centres will have to be "accredited" to
carry out their training activities, which means that they will have to meet
specific criteria and requirements fixed by the decree (in terms of logistical
and structural capacities, economic situation, previous activities, professional
profiles involved and relations with the locality). One method of accreditation
will be the ISO 9001 international standard
for quality assurance, developed by the International
Organisation for Standardisation.
Some additional financial resources are provided to enable the regions to
adapt their training structures. To this end, a national fund will be created to
which the Ministry of Labour will contribute a maximum of ITL 100 billion for
1999.
As regards the certification of vocational competence, the decree introduces
a training booklet in which people's individual training history will be
recorded. The regions will be responsible for certifying the skills acquired and
these "training credits" will be also valid towards the award of
educational qualifications or in access to particular courses, based on specific
agreements between the competent ministries and the regions.
Trade union and employers' organisations expressed their satisfaction with
decree, as it represents the realisation of one of the most important chapters
of the Pact for Employment. They believe that it supplies the country with a
modern and flexible training system that will foster company competitiveness and
the "employability" of workers.
