Renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement for Companies in the Tertiary, Distribution, and Services Sectors - Confcommercio

News No. 15/2024

On March 22, the labor unions Filcams-Cgil, Fisascat-Cisl, and UilTuCS, along with Confcommercio-Imprese per l’Italia, signed a draft agreement for the renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL) for the Tertiary, Distribution, and Services sectors, which expired on December 31, 2019. Subsequently, on March 28, a Supplementary Agreement was signed between the same social partners to provide clarifications and details regarding the previous draft agreement.

The National Collective Bargaining Agreement is hereby renewed and will have a four-year term, with the economic provisions in effect from April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2027.

As for the regulatory provisions, however, the renewal period runs from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2027.

With regard to the economic terms of the agreement, a gross wage increase of 240 euros is provided for Level IV (with corresponding adjustments to the other contractual levels), to be paid in six installments on the following dates:

• April 1, 2023 (this is the advance payment on future contractual increases agreed upon in the Special Protocol of December 12, 2022, which will be incorporated into the base pay starting April 1, 2024);

• April 1, 2024;

• March 1, 2025;

• November 1, 2025;

• November 1, 2026;

• February 1, 2027.

Substantial changes have been made to the regulatory provisions, redefining their scope of application and updating the classification of professional roles in the sector in accordance with the new standards.

In fact, the scope of operations has been expanded in both the retail and services sectors. Specifically, the organized retail sector has been expanded to include parapharmacy products and the introduction of dark stores; while in the services sector, the rental and sale of audiovisual materials and software and hardware as well as general administrative services at private online universities, tax assistance centers, and marketing service companies marketing .

In addition, improvements have been made to gender policies, and additional leave is provided for women who are victims of violence; specific grounds have been established for fixed-term employment contracts, to be used both for renewals (starting with the first renewal) and for extensions beyond 12 months and up to 24 months.

Recognizing the importance of flexible work as an organizational approach to balancing work and personal life, as well as to helping reduce environmental impact, the Parties, through the Agreement of March 22, 2024, have adopted the National Protocol of December 7, 2021, on flexible work.

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As for the financial aspects, here is a summary of the base pay increases and their respective effective dates:

LEVEL	INCREASES STARTING ON
	APRIL 1, 2023 (*)	APRIL 1, 2024	MARCH 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2026	FEBRUARY 1, 2027	TOTAL
Paintings	52,08	121,53	52,08	60,76	60,76	69,44	416,65
I	46,92	109,47	46,92	54,74	54,74	62,56	375,35
II	40,58	94,69	40,58	47,35	47,35	54,11	324,66
III	34,69	80,94	34,69	40,47	40,47	46,25	277,51
IV	30,00	70,00	30,00	35,00	35,00	40,00	240,00
V	27,10	63,24	27,10	31,62	31,62	36,14	216,82
VI	24,33	56,78	24,33	28,39	28,39	32,44	194,66
VII	20,83	48,61	20,83	24,31	24,31	27,78	166,67

              (*) This refers to the AFAC agreed upon in the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022.

SALES REPRESENTATIVES
CATEGORY	INCREASES STARTING ON	TOTAL
APRIL 1, 2023	APRIL 1, 2024	MARCH 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2026	FEBRUARY 1, 2027
I	28,32	66,08	28,32	33,04	33,04	37,76	226,56
II	23,78	55,48	23,78	27,74	27,74	31,70	190,22

Below are the new base pay rates and their respective payment frequencies, taking into account the increases in minimum wages:

LEVEL	MINIMUM WAGES – BASE PAY STARTING AT
APRIL 1, 2023 (*)	APRIL 1, 2024	MARCH 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2026	FEBRUARY 1, 2027
Paintings	1.948,72	2.070,25	2.122,33	2.183,09	2.243,85	2.313,29
I	1.755,41	1.864,88	1.911,80	1.966,55	2.021,28	2.083,84
II	1.518,42	1.613,11	1.653,69	1.701,04	1.748,39	1.802,50
III	1.297,84	1.378,78	1.413,47	1.453,94	1.494,41	1.540,66
IV	1.122,46	1.192,46	1.222,46	1.257,46	1.292,46	1.332,46
V	1.014,11	1.077,35	1.104,45	1.136,07	1.167,69	1.203,83
VI	910,44	967,22	991,55	1.019,94	1.048,33	1.080,77
VII	779,47	828,08	848,91	873,22	897,53	925,31

              (*) This refers to the AFAC agreed upon in the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022.

SALES REPRESENTATIVES
CATEGORY	MINIMUM WAGES – BASIC WAGE STARTING AT
APRIL 1, 2023	APRIL 1, 2024	MARCH 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2026	FEBRUARY 1, 2027
I	1.059,56	1.125,64	1.153,96	1.187,00	1.220,04	1.257,80
II	887,96	943,44	967,22	994,96	1.022,70	1.054,40

In addition to the amounts listed above, the following must be added:

- The position allowance for employees classified as MID-LEVEL MANAGERS, amounting to 260.76 euros per month;

- The collective minimum wage applicable to workers classified at Level VII, amounting to 5.16 euros per month;

- The contingency allowance and the separate component of compensation, as provided for in the 1992 Interconfederal Agreement, as shown in the following table:

LEVEL	CONTINGENCY + EDR
Paintings	540,37
I	537,52
II	532,54
III	527,90
IV	524,22
V	521,94
VI	519,76
VII	517,51
OPV, Category I	530,04
OPV Category II	526,11

Absorption 

The contract renewal agreement provides as follows:

They CANNOT be absorbed:

· Merit-based pay increases, meaning those granted based on the employee’s abilities and performance;

· Increases resulting from seniority increments;

· Pay raises granted collectively and unilaterally by the employer during the 6 months immediately preceding the expiration of this contract (which expired on December 31, 2019).

They can be absorbed:

· Pay raises granted by companies regardless of collective bargaining agreements negotiated with unions, which are expected to be incorporated into any subsequent union agreements;

and/or:

· Increases resulting from unilateral acts, provided they are expressly stipulated at the time of the grant as a down payment or advance on future contractual increases, paid as of January 1, 2022.

The supplementary agreement of March 28, 2024, confirmed that this last point is to be interpreted to mean that the 30-euro advance on future contractual increases (AFAC) for Level IV—as an increase in base pay—and the one-time of 350 euros for Level IV provided for in the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, cannot be absorbed by the pay increases paid from April 2024 through February 2027, nor by the one-timepayments due in July 2024 and July 2025, as provided for in the renewal agreement of March 22, 2024.

One-Time

In order to provide full coverage for the contractual gap period (January 1, 2020 – March 31, 2023), and to supplement the provisions of the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, the social partners have provided for the payment of a “one-time” amount.

The one-time payment is available only to employees on the payroll as of March 22, 2024, and is to be paid in two installments, according to the following schedule by pay grade:

ONE-TIME TABLE
LEVEL	ONE-TIME PAYMENT TO BE MADE ON JULY 1, 2024	ONE-TIME PAYMENT TO BE MADE ON JULY 1, 2025
Paintings	303,81	303,81
I	273,67	273,67
II	236,73	236,73
III	202,34	202,34
IV	175,00	175,00
V	158,11	158,11
VI	141,95	141,95
VII	121,53	121,53
Sales Representatives
Category I	165,20	165,20
Category II	138,69	138,69

The amount may be paid in 15 monthly installmentsand is determined in proportion to the duration of employment and the actual service rendered during the period from January 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.

We would like to reiterate that the one-time payment will be disbursed in two installments: one with the July 2024 payroll and the other with the July 2025 payroll.

For apprentices employed as of March 22, 2024, the one-time payment will be disbursed on a pro-rata basis according to the compensation set forth in the National Collective Bargaining Agreement of July 30, 2019, effective as of July 2024 and July 2025.

The one-time payment must be proportionally reduced in the event of absences or unpaid leave; it must be recalculated for periods of part-time work, for suspensions and/or reductions in working hours agreed upon through a union agreement, or in the event of hiring or termination, as well as in the case of transitions between part-time andfull-time and vice versa, or a change in job classification during the bonus’s reference period.

Furthermore, for the purposes of accruing one month of entitlement to the one-time bonus, the calculation criterion now established in our National Collective Bargaining Agreement applies, which counts any period of 15 days or more as a full month.

The one-time payment is not included in the calculation of any contractual benefits, nor is it considered part of the severance pay.

In accordance with established negotiating practice between the Parties, any amounts already paid by employers as future contractual increases and/or contractual improvements and disbursed as of January 1, 2022, shall be considered, for all intents and purposes, advances on the “one-time” amounts specified in the Agreement. It is understood that the advance payment on future contractual increases established by the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, is not considered as such, as it has now become a tranche of a contractual increase in every respect, as provided for in Article 213 of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The supplementary agreement of March 28, 2024, confirmed that this last point is to be interpreted to mean that the advance payment of 30 euros on future contractual increases—referring to Level IV (and adjusted for the other levels)—constitutes an increase in base pay, and that the amounts one-time payments of 350 euros applicable to Level IV (and adjusted for the other levels), as provided for in the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, cannot be absorbed by the pay increases paid from April 2024 through February 2027, nor by the amount paid as a one-time, to be paid in July 2024 and July 2025, as provided for in the renewal agreement of March 22, 2024.

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The Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire on March 31, 2027, and if, six months after the expiration of the agreement, the parties have not reached a renewal agreement, employees must be paid a provisional component of their compensation (known as the “Contractual Gap Allowance”), for 14 months, calculated at 30% of the projected IPCA index for the current year (excluding major energy costs), applied to the current minimum contractual wages, including the former contingency allowance. The amount of the contractual vacation allowance may be offset, up to the full amount, exclusively by sums granted as a down payment or advance on future contractual increases after March 31, 2027.

Funding for Regional Bilateral Agencies

The contractual provision specifies that the contribution to be paid to the regional bilateral agency—to be borne by the company (at a rate of 0.10% of base pay plus allowances) and by the employee (at a rate of 0.05% of base pay plus allowances)—must be paid for 14 months and includes the contribution to support the activities of the Joint Bilateral Commissions.

Consequently, any company that fails to pay the aforementioned contribution is required to pay the employee the Separate Component of Compensation (E.D.R.), equal to 0.30% of base pay plus allowances, which is to be paid to the employee for 14 months.

EST Fund

An increase of 3.00 euros in the employer’s contribution to the EST Fund has been established, effective April 1, 2025.

“Qu.A.S.” Health Insurance Fund

A total increase of 40 euros in the employer’s contribution has been established, consisting of 20 euros effective January 1, 2025, and an additional 20 euros effective January 1, 2026.

New Staff Classification

A major initiative involved a detailed review and update of the job classifications included in the personnel classification system.

In this regard, it should be noted that the statement on record pursuant to Articles 113 and 115 of this National Collective Bargaining Agreement provides that the updates to the job classifications included in the aforementioned articles apply to employees hired on or after March 22, 2024, , while for positions already in place as of that date, any necessary adjustments must be made at the company level.

For the sole purpose of hiring apprentices in vocational training programs, the new classification system will take effect as of June 1, 2024. Consequently, until that date and for the same purposes, the previous job classifications remain in effect.

The main changes involve the elimination of professional roles now considered obsolete, while at the same time new roles have been introduced, including: “the head of training programs and related processes,” as well as “the optometrist” and the “pharmacy technician,” along with the addition of more current roles such as “the distance sales representative” and the “e-commerce” (the latter at Level V for the first 18 months after hiring).

Furthermore, with regard to the distribution of the drug, the Parties have committed to regulating, by the end of December 2025, the continued role of the “order picker” in pharmaceutical wholesale warehouses—a position currently classified at Level V—with the aid of IT systems.

Among the new job classifications was the reorganization of the classification system for employees of companies in the services sector, where specific examples were defined for professional roles operating in the macro-areas of advertising, marketing, and communications/events (Section A), market research (Section B), and auditing and business consulting (Section C), which are also considered benchmarks for all companies falling within the scope of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL). In addition, the entire Information and Communication Technology sector has been updated.

Provisions have also been made for the establishment of a special technical commission that, within the term of the contract, is tasked with defining additional roles within the sector, including creative and cultural enterprises.

Introduction to Grounds for Fixed-Term Contracts

The Parties have defined the grounds for lawfully setting a term for individual employment contracts lasting more than 12 months but not exceeding 24 months, or in cases of contract renewal (a ground to be included starting with the first renewal).

Please note that, pursuant to current regulations, as of the effective date of this National Collective Bargaining Agreement (April 1, 2024) it will no longer be possible to specify reasons on an individual basis for technical, organizational, or production-related needs—which were permitted until December 31, 2024, under Article 19, paragraph 1, subparagraph b), of Legislative Decree No. 81/2015—as collective justifications will take precedence.

The grounds introduced in this contract renewal are listed here:

1)    Sales. This category includes workers hired during the periods covered by end-of-season sales, both winter and summer, as specified by regional regulations;

2)    Trade Shows. This category includes workers hired during the periods covered by trade shows listed on the national and international trade show calendar, from seven days before the trade show to seven days after it;

3)    Holiday Season. This category includes workers hired during the Christmas season, more specifically during the period between November 15 and January 15;

4)   Easter Holidays. This category includes workers hired during the Easter holidays, specifically during the period spanning the fifteen days before and the fifteen days after Easter Sunday;

5)    Reducing Environmental Impact. This category includes workers hired for specific professional roles and directly employed in organizational and/or production processes aimed at reducing the environmental impact of those very processes;

6)   Advanced service sector. This category includes workers hired for

specific tasks related to the design, development, support, and sale of innovative products—including digital ones—in the advanced service sector. In this regard, this category includes all activities related to any—or even just one—of the development phases of an innovative product, such as high-tech products, or new materials or services that help improve performance levels and make processes more efficient;

7)    Digitalization. This category includes workers hired for specific professional roles to develop methodologies and new skills in the digital field;

8)   New Openings. This category includes workers hired for the opening of new production or operational units and for restructuring projects within a maximum period of 24 months from the date of the new production or operational unit’s opening, or within a maximum period of 24 months during the restructuring phase of production or operational units—defined as the expansion of sales floor space or the opening of new departments. It should be noted that this category also includes restructuring processes—in addition to the new openings of production and operational units—which are understood to include, by way of example only, the diversification or expansion of the services offered by a company.

With regard to new business openings, the Parties have also agreed to exclude such employment relationships from the quota limits—as provided for in Article 23, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree No. 81/2015—only for employment relationships established within the first 12 months following the new opening. Furthermore, it should be noted that these provisions do not cover the launch or commencement of new business activities, which are instead already governed by Article 76 of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement;

9)   Temporary Increase. This category includes workers hired for temporary projects or assignments lasting more than 12 months or extended beyond 12 consecutive months, for a maximum duration of 24 months.

The aforementioned grounds may be lawfully included in contracts with a term of more than 12 months but not exceeding 24 months for contract extensions or renewals beyond 12 months, or for the renewal of a contract (regardless of its term), and must be detailed to justify the reasons in relation to the term—beyond a mere “title”—in order to avoid the risk of litigation.

It is important to emphasize that these reasons may be used by all companies that apply this National Collective Bargaining Agreement, without any distinction between industrial sectors.

In addition to these, second-level collective bargaining—whether at the regional and/or company level—may identify additional grounds. Such bargaining may also: agree on pathways to convert fixed-term contracts to permanent ones; ensure that job opportunities in the cases provided for in this article may also be aimed at increasing the working hours of part-time workers in production units; identify exhibitions, fairs, or events relevant to the local context that justify the hiring of workers during the periods covered by such exhibitions, fairs, or events, including the seven days preceding and the seven days following the exhibition, fair, or event. This justification may be legitimately applied to contracts with a duration of more than 12 months and not exceeding 24 months for contract extensions or renewals beyond 12 months or for the renewal of a contract (regardless of its duration).

Parental Leave

With regard to parental leave, the Agreement reflects the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 105/2022 “Implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 20, 2019, on work-life balance for parents and caregivers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU,” incorporating the recent regulatory amendments to Article 34 of Legislative Decree No. 151/2001 regarding parental leave and thereby adjusting the contractual provisions concerning both the duration of the leave and the amount of the allowance due.

The same contractual provision also introduced an additional stipulation regarding the impact of individual provisions during the period of parental leave. Specifically, it stipulates that periods of parental leave are counted toward length of service and do not result in a reduction of vacation time, rest days (ROL or former holidays), or additional monthly pay, with the exception of ancillary emoluments linked to actual presence on duty.

Finally, the notice period within which an employee must notify the employer of a request for parental leave has been reduced to 5 days (it was previously 15 days).

Leave for Women Who Are Victims of Violence

Pursuant to Article 24 of Legislative Decree No. 80 of June 15, 2015, female workers enrolled in protection programs related to gender-based violence—as duly certified by the social services of their municipality of residence, anti-violence centers, or shelters—are entitled to take leave from work for a maximum period of 90 working days.

In order to exercise this right, the employee—except in cases of objective impossibility—is required both to give the employer at least seven days’ notice and to provide documentation certifying her enrollment in the relevant programs.

During her leave, the employee is entitled to an allowance equal to her last salary, which is advanced by the employer and offset against the contributions due to INPS in the same manner as provided for maternity benefits.

Leave may be taken on an hourly or daily basis over a three-year period. The employee may choose between daily and hourly leave, provided that hourly leave is limited to half of the average daily working hours for the month immediately preceding the month in which the leave begins.

Flexible Provisions in Part-Time Employment Relationships

With regard to part-time contracts, it has been established that, effective January 1, 2025, the compensation to be paid to the employee for the inclusion of the flexible clause in the individual employment contract will increase from 120 to 155 euros per year—a non-cumulative amount—to be paid in monthly installments.

For all updates, please refer to the National Collective Bargaining Agreement, which can be viewed in the attachments below:

News Study:

News 15_2024 - Renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement for Companies in the Distribution and Services Sector_C.

Download • 475KB

Confcommercio Draft Agreement, March 22, 2024:

Confcommercio Draft Agreement March 22, 2024.pdf

Download PDF • 5.27MB

APPENDIX 2: Supplementary Minutes to the TDS National Collective Bargaining Agreement, March 28, 2024:

ALL_2_Supplementary_Minutes_National_Collective_Bargaining_Agreement_TDS_March_28,_2024.pdf

Download PDF • 1.67MB

Confcommercio Operational Clarifications on the Renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement:

Confcommercio—Operational Clarifications—Renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement and Supplementary Agreement of March 28, 20.

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