Outsourcing of services and collective bargaining coverage in Italy

Collective bargaining coverage is a key aspect of industrial relations systems; it significantly affects the degree of workers' protection and earnings disparities (and more generally working conditions disparities); its developments influence tendencies of labour market dualisation and socio-economic inequality. This relevant institution of the industrial relations systems is increasingly under pressure. It is challenged by several phenomena, including restructurings of (global) value chains, outsourcing practices, workplaces fragmentation and diffusion of non-standard forms of employment. RECOVER project aims to analyse collective bargaining coverage in outsourced services with a view to identify coverage problems, gaps, conflicts - across different groups of workers. With this regards, the project focuses on different realities/manifestations of outsourcing, including temporary agency workers, self-employed, bogus self-employed, facility management companies. Moreover, the project aims to analyse the capacity of existing institutions in dealing with collective bargaining coverage problems and the strategies deployed by social partners at national, sectoral and company level to address gaps, conflicts, etc. In Italy we focused on two different outsourced activities, with high and low-qualified occupations, specifically: 1) cleaning servicesand 2) ICT services. In addition, a case study was conducted on a facility management company, operating in the national territory. Case studies followed a mixed-method approach, including a series of interviews with key trade unionists and representatives of employers' associations. With regards to facility management company, interviews involved HR manager, two workers' representatives (one member of the European Work Council of the multinational - company) and a trade unionist