Background information

The company level agreement was signed on 27 March 2020 by the company Granarolo and the main trade unions in the agri-food sector FAI-CISL, FLAI-CGIL, and UILA-UIL. Following the reduced productive activity in the plant during the pandemic emergency, it aimed at ensuring continuity to the whole workforce and to safeguard the income levels of the workers by recurring to the payroll subsidies. In fact, according to the Decree no. 18. issued on 17 March 2020 (article 19), all the companies facing a decrease in their activities due to the COVID-19 emergency are allowed to apply for the use of the payroll subsidies financed by the INPS (National Institute for Social Protection).

Content of measure

The social partners agreed upon the following provisions relating to the adoption of the payroll subsidies:

• The application of the payroll subsidies has to be discussed locally with the union representatives at the workplace and the territorial union organisations
• The company will ensure the maximum turnover among workers within each establishment, also recurring to the tele-work arrangement, compatibly with the technical requirements of the productive process
• The company will top-up the payroll subsidies paid by the INPS (the National Institute for the Social Protection) up to the 100% of the gross income level gained by each worker. The subsidies will cover up to nine working weeks
• The 75% of days of holiday and the 50% of the individual leaves each workers collected until 31 December 2019 have to be used before accessing the payroll subsidies

Use of measure

The group Granarolo employs about 2,800 workers, spread across fourteen establishments located in Italy and eight abroad. The measures apply to the workforce employed in Italy.

Contents

• Income protection

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Trade unions Company / Companies Social insurance	Employer National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only trade unions
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

The largest trade unions in the agri-food sector have been involved (Fai Cisl, Flai Cgil, Uila Uil). They represent the signatory parties of the national collective agreement in the sector, accordingly allowed to signed company-level agreements.

Views and reactions

The trade unions declared to be particularly satisfied of this agreements, since they obtained the commitment of the company to top-up the share of payroll subsidy paid by the INPS (National Institute for the Social Protection) up to the 100% of the gross income level of each worker. The financial participation of the employer is not compulsory, hence it represents an important achievement in their opinion.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 25 September 2020: FLAI CGIL website (www.flai.it)