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

News n.15/2024

The Trade Unions Filcams-Cgil, Fisascat-Cisl, UilTuCS, and Confcommercio-Imprese per l'Italia signed a draft Agreement on March 22nd for the renewal of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement for Tertiary, Distribution, and Services, which expired on December 31, 2019. Subsequently, on March 28th, an Integrative Agreement was signed between the same social partners to provide clarifications and specifications to the previous draft Agreement.

The National Collective Bargaining Agreement is thus considered renewed and will have a four-year term, with validity (for the economic provisions) from April 1, 2023, until March 31, 2027.

For the regulatory provisions, however, the renewal takes effect from April 1, 2024, until March 31, 2027.

Regarding the economic provisions of the agreement, a gross salary increase of 240 euros is stipulated for the IV level (with corresponding re-parameterization across other contractual levels), to be disbursed in 6 installments on the following dates:

• April 1, 2023 (this refers to the advance on future contractual increases agreed upon with the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, which, starting from April 1, 2024, will be incorporated into the basic salary);

• April 1, 2024;

• March 1, 2025;

• November 1, 2025;

• November 1, 2026;

• February 1, 2027.

Significant amendments have been made to the regulatory section, redefining its scope of application and updating the classification of professional profiles within the sector according to new standards.

Indeed, the activity areas for both the commerce and services sectors have been expanded. Specifically, the scope of organized distribution has been integrated to include parapharmacy products and the inclusion of dark stores; while in the services sector, rental and sales services for audiovisual products and software and hardware products have been introduced, as well as general administrative services for private online universities, tax assistance centers, and operational marketing service companies.

Furthermore, improvements have been introduced in 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 utilized for both renewals (from the first renewal) and extensions beyond 12 months up to 24 months.

The Parties, recognizing the importance of agile work as an organizational modality to reconcile work-life balance and contribute to environmental impact reduction, have adopted the National Protocol of December 7, 2021, on agile work through the Agreement of March 22, 2024.

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Regarding the economic provisions, we summarize the basic pay increases and their respective effective dates:

LEVEL	INCREASES EFFECTIVE FROM
	APRIL 1, 2023 (*)	APRIL 1, 2024	MARCH 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2026	FEBRUARY 1, 2027	TOTAL
Executives	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 with the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022.

SALES PERSONNEL
CATEGORY	INCREASES EFFECTIVE FROM	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

The new basic wages and their corresponding increments are detailed below, taking into account the increases in minimum remuneration:

LEVEL	MINIMUM REMUNERATION – BASIC WAGE EFFECTIVE FROM
APRIL 1, 2023 (*)	APRIL 1, 2024	MARCH 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2025	NOVEMBER 1, 2026	FEBRUARY 1, 2027
Executives	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 with the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022.

SALES PERSONNEL
CATEGORY	MINIMUM REMUNERATION – BASIC WAGE EFFECTIVE FROM
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

The following must be added to the aforementioned amounts:

– The functional allowance for employees classified as QUADRI (middle management), amounting to €260.76 per month;

– The collective superminimum payable to employees classified at Level VII, amounting to €5.16 per month;

– The cost-of-living allowance and the distinct element of remuneration (EDR), stemming from the 1992 Interconfederal Agreement, as per the following table:

LEVEL	COST-OF-LIVING ALLOWANCE + EDR
Executives	540,37
I	537,52
II	532,54
III	527,90
IV	524,22
V	521,94
VI	519,76
VII	517,51
SALES PERSONNEL Category I	530,04
SALES PERSONNEL Category II	526,11

Absorptions 

The contractual renewal agreement stipulates that:

CANNOT be absorbed:

· Merit-based increases, understood as those awarded based on the employee's aptitude and performance;

· Increases derived from seniority increments;

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

CAN be absorbed:

· Increases granted by companies irrespective of collective bargaining agreements, provided as absorbable by potential union agreements;

and/or:

·      Increases resulting from unilateral acts, provided they were expressly established at the time of granting as an advance or anticipation of future contractual increases, granted from January 1, 2022.

The supplementary agreement of March 28, 2024, confirmed that this latter point should be interpreted to mean that the advance on future contractual increases (AFAC) of EUR 30, referring to Level IV, as an increase in basic salary, and the lump sum amounts of EUR 350, referring to Level IV, stipulated by the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, cannot be absorbed by the salary increases disbursed from April 2024 to February 2027, nor by the lump sum amount, payable in July 2024 and July 2025, as provided by the renewal agreement of March 22, 2024.

Lump Sum

To fully cover the contractual void period (January 1, 2020 – March 31, 2023), and in addition to the provisions of the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, the Social Partners have stipulated the disbursement of a “Lump Sum” amount.

The Lump Sum is due only to employees employed as of March 22, 2024, and is to be disbursed in 2 installments, according to the following schedule by classification level:

LUMP SUM TABLE
LEVEL	LUMP SUM PAYABLE ON 01/07/2024	LUMP SUM PAYABLE ON 01/07/2025
Executives	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 Personnel
Category I	165,20	165,20
Category II	138,69	138,69

The amount is divisible into 15 monthly installments, and is determined proportionally to the duration of the employment relationship and the actual service rendered during the period from January 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.

We reiterate that the Lump Sum amount will be disbursed in two installments: one with the salaries pertaining to July 2024 and the other with the salaries pertaining to July 2025.

For apprentices employed as of March 22, 2024, the Lump Sum will be disbursed proportionally based on the economic treatment stipulated in the CCNL of July 30, 2019, with the same effective dates of July 2024 and July 2025.

The Lump Sum must be proportionally reduced in cases of unpaid absences or leaves, and must be re-proportioned for periods of part-time work, for suspensions and/or reductions in working hours agreed upon by union agreement, or in cases of hiring/termination, as well as for part-time/full-time conversions and vice versa, or changes in the classification level during its reference period.

Furthermore, for the purpose of accruing a month's entitlement to the Lump Sum portion, the established calculation criterion in our CCNL applies, which considers any fraction equal to or greater than 15 days as a full month.

The Lump Sum is not relevant for the calculation of any contractual entitlement and is not an amount useful for Severance Pay purposes.

According to established negotiation practice between the Parties, any amounts already paid by employers as future contractual increases and/or contractual improvements, disbursed from January 1, 2022, are to be considered, for all intents and purposes, advances on the “Lump Sum” amounts indicated in the Agreement. It is understood that the advance portion on future contractual increases established by the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, is not considered as such, as it has now effectively become a contractual increase installment as stipulated by Article 213 of the CCNL.

The supplementary agreement of March 28, 2024, confirmed that this latter point should be interpreted to mean that the advance on future contractual increases of EUR 30, referring to Level IV (and re-parameterized for other levels), as an increase in basic salary, and the lump sum amounts of EUR 350, referring to Level IV (and re-parameterized for other levels), stipulated by the Extraordinary Protocol of December 12, 2022, cannot be absorbed by the salary increases disbursed from April 2024 to February 2027, nor by the Lump Sum amount, payable in July 2024 and July 2025, as provided by 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 contractual expiry, the parties have not reached a renewal agreement, employees shall be paid a provisional wage component (the so-called: “Contractual Vacancy Indemnity”), for 14 monthly periods and quantified at 30% of the forecasted HICP index for the current year (net of significant energy components), applied to the current contractual minimum wages, including the former cost-of-living allowance. The amount of the contractual vacancy indemnity may be absorbed, up to the corresponding amount, exclusively by sums granted as advances or anticipations on future contractual increases subsequent to March 31, 2027.

Funding for Territorial Bilateral Bodies

The contractual provision has specified that the contribution to be remitted to the territorial bilateral body, borne by the company (at 0.10% of basic salary + cost-of-living allowance) and by the employee (at 0.05% of basic salary + cost-of-living allowance), must be disbursed for 14 monthly periods and includes the contribution to support the activities of the Bilateral Joint Committees.

Consequently, any company that fails to remit the aforementioned contribution is obligated to pay the employee the Distinct Wage Element (E.D.R.), equal to 0.30% of basic salary + cost-of-living allowance, to be disbursed to the employee for 14 monthly periods.

EST Fund

An increase of EUR 3.00 has been established for the employer's contribution to the EST Fund, effective from April 1, 2025.

“Qu.A.S.” Healthcare Assistance Fund

An overall increase of 40 euros has been established for the employer's contribution, with 20 euros effective from January 1, 2025, and an additional 20 euros effective from January 1, 2026.

New Personnel Classification

A significant initiative involved a detailed review and update of the professional profiles contained within the personnel classification system.

In this regard, it is specified that the declaration recorded in the minutes for Articles 113 and 115 of this Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL) stipulated that the updates to professional profiles included in the aforementioned articles apply to personnel hired from March 22, 2024 while for personnel already employed as of that date, any necessary adjustments must be made at the company level.

Solely for the purpose of professional apprenticeship hirings, the new classification system will come into effect from June 1, 2024. Consequently, until that date and for the same purposes, the previous professional profiles remain in force.

The main innovations involve the abolition of professional profiles now deemed obsolete, while new roles have been introduced, including: "the head of training processes and related supply chain," as well as "the optometrist" and "the parapharmacy pharmacist," along with the inclusion of more contemporary roles such as "the remote sales assistant" and the "e-commerce" assistant (the latter at Level V for the first 18 months from hiring).

Furthermore, within the pharmaceutical distribution sector, the Parties have committed to regulate by the end of December 2025 the continued presence of the "order picker" role in pharmaceutical wholesale warehouses, utilizing IT support, a role currently classified at Level V.

Among the new roles, the classification system for personnel employed by service sector companies has been reorganized, defining exemplary professional profiles operating in the macro-areas of advertising, marketing, and communication/events (Section A), market research (Section B), as well as auditing and business consulting (Section C). These are considered reference points for all companies falling within the scope of the CCNL. Furthermore, the entire Information and Communication Technology macro-area has been updated.

Furthermore, the establishment of a dedicated technical commission has been foreseen, tasked with defining additional roles operating in the sector, including creative and cultural enterprises, within the contractual validity period.

Introduction of Justifications for Fixed-Term Contracts

The Parties have defined the legitimate justifications for applying a fixed term to individual employment contracts with a duration exceeding 12 months but not exceeding 24 months, or in cases of contract renewal (a justification to be included from the first renewal).

It is recalled that, by virtue of current provisions, from the effective date of this CCNL (April 1, 2024), it will no longer be possible to individually apply justifications for technical, organizational, or production needs (as provided until December 31, 2024, by Article 19, paragraph 1, letter b), of Legislative Decree no. 81/2015), as collective justifications will subsidiarily take their place.

The justifications introduced in this contract renewal are listed below:

1) Balances. Workers hired during periods affected by sales related to end-of-season sales, both winter and summer, as per specific regional regulations, fall into this category;

2) Fairs. Workers hired during periods affected by the holding of fairs identified by the national and international fair calendar between seven days before and seven days after the fair fall under this heading;

3) Christmas holidays.. Workers hired during the Christmas holidays, more specifically during the period between November 15 and January 15, fall into this category;

4) Easter holidays. Workers hired during Easter holidays, more specifically during the period between fifteen days before and fifteen days after Easter Day, fall into this category;

5) Environmental impact reduction. This includes workers hired with specific professional skills and employed directly in organizational processes and/or production processes that have the objective of reducing the environmental impact of those processes.i;

6) Advanced tertiary. This includes workers hired for

specific tasks of designing, implementing and servicing and selling innovative products, including digital products, in the advanced tertiary sector. In this regard, this includes all those activities related to all stages of development-even one of them-of a product that is innovative, such as high-tech products, or new materials or services that help improve the level of performance and make processes more efficient;

7) Digitization. This includes workers hired with specific professional skills for the development of methodologies and new skills in the digital field;

8) New openings. Included in this casuistry are workers hired for openings of new production/operating units and restructurings in the maximum period of 24 months from the day of the new opening of production/operating units or in the maximum period of 24 months in the restructuring phase of production/operating units, understood as expansion of sales area or opening of new departments. It should be noted that the casuistry also includes restructuring processes - in addition to new openings of production/operating units - understood as such, purely by way of example, including diversification or expansion of services offered by an enterprise.

With regard to new openings, the Parties 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 employment relationships established in the first 12 months after the new opening. In addition, it should be noted that these regulations do not include start-up/start-up operations of new activities, which, on the other hand, are already regulated in Art. 76 of the CCNL;

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

These aforementioned grounds may be legitimately applied to contracts exceeding 12 months but not exceeding 24 months for extensions or renewals of contracts beyond 12 months, or for the renewal of any contract (regardless of its duration). They must be detailed to justify their rationale in relation to the contract's duration, beyond a mere “title,” to mitigate litigation risk.

It is important to emphasize that these grounds are applicable to all companies adhering to this National Collective Bargaining Agreement, without distinction across productive sectors.

In addition to these, second-level bargaining, whether territorial and/or company-level, may identify further grounds. Such bargaining may also: agree upon pathways for the stabilization of fixed-term contracts; verify that employment opportunities in cases provided for by this article can also be aimed at increasing the working hours of part-time employees within production units; identify events/fairs/exhibitions relevant to the territorial context that justify the hiring of workers during the periods affected by the conduct of such events/fairs/exhibitions, including the seven days preceding and seven days following the event/fair/exhibition. This ground may be legitimately applied to contracts exceeding 12 months but not exceeding 24 months for extensions or renewals of contracts beyond 12 months, or for the renewal of any contract (regardless of its duration).

Parental Leave

Regarding 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 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU,” incorporating recent regulatory amendments to Article 34 of Legislative Decree 151/2001 concerning parental leave and thus adapting the contractual provisions both in relation to the duration of the leave and the amount of the corresponding allowance.

Furthermore, the same contractual provision has introduced an additional specification regarding the impact of individual entitlements during the enjoyment of parental leave. Specifically, it stipulates that periods of parental leave are counted towards seniority of service and do not entail a reduction in holidays, rest periods (ROL or former public holidays), or additional monthly payments, with the exception of ancillary emoluments linked to actual presence at work.

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

Leave for Women Victims of Violence

As stipulated by Article 24 of Legislative Decree No. 80 of June 15, 2015, female workers participating in gender-based violence protection programs, duly certified by the social services of their municipality of residence, anti-violence centers, or shelter homes, are granted the right to abstain from work for a maximum period of 90 working days.

For the exercise of this right, the female worker, except in cases of objective impossibility, is required both to provide the employer with a notice period of no less than seven days and to produce certification attesting to her inclusion in the aforementioned programs.

During the leave period, the female worker is entitled to an allowance corresponding to her last remuneration, which is advanced by the employer and offset against contributions due to INPS, following the same procedures as those stipulated for maternity economic benefits.

The leave may be taken on an hourly or daily basis within a three-year timeframe. The female worker may choose between daily and hourly utilization, provided that hourly utilization is permitted up to half of the average daily working hours of the month immediately preceding the commencement of the leave.

Flexible Clauses in Part-Time Employment Relationships

Regarding part-time contracts, it has been established that, effective January 1, 2025, the allowance to be granted to the employee for the inclusion of the flexible clause in the individual employment contract increases from 120 to 155 euros annually, non-cumulative, to be paid in monthly installments.

For all updates, please refer to the National Collective Bargaining Agreement, available in the attachments below:

News from the Firm:

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

Download • 475KB

Confcommercio Draft Agreement 22.03.2024:

Confcommercio Draft Agreement 22.03.2024.pdf

Download PDF • 5.27MB

ATT. 2 Supplementary Protocol CCNL TDS March 28, 2024:

ATT_2_Supplementary_Protocol_CCNL_TDS_28_March_2024.pdf

Download PDF • 1.67MB

Confcommercio Operational Clarifications for the Renewal of the CCNL:

Confcommercio-operational-clarifications-Renewal-of-the-CCNL-and-Supplementary-Agreement-of-March-28-20.

Download • 294KB