These are "seven workers who came from Alcon, three from Sandoz and others from another company based in Milan". Yes to the contract with increasing protections, but yes also to the active protection of professional workers
Article published on: 23/03/2015 – adnkronos
The pharmaceutical industry 'marries' the Jobs Act, but does not divorce article 18. How? By applying the new contract envisaged by the recent labor market reform, with the exception of the part concerning dismissal. Trailblazer she was Novartis, which in an agreement signed last week with the trade unions undertook to "formalize its choice not to apply", towards about 35 new employees, "the provisions of the contract with increasing protections relating to the legal regime applicable in the event of the employer's withdrawal from the employment relationship", reads the agreement.
The agreement concerns "employees - Ermanno Donghi explains to Adnkronos Salute (in the picture) secretary of Filtcem CGIL – who worked in other group companies, transferred to the Novartis headquarters in Origgio (Varese) with the assignment of an individual contract. These are specialized professional figures that the company needed, but with the transfer there was the risk that, despite having worked for some time and having acquired important skills, the new type of contract would apply. But in the agreement we shared that the company will not apply the new rules on dismissal. It is therefore a 'hybrid' contract, because the new system could have been applied to these workers. It will be like this, but not for the part relating to the dismissal ”.
These are "seven workers who came from Alcon, three from Sandoz and others from another company based in Milan", explains Donghi, for a total of 35 workers since January 2015. "The principle that is starting to pass - he concludes the trade unionist – is therefore to find an 'alternative' form: yes to the contract with increasing protections, but yes also to the active protection of professionalized workers. This will be an important element that I think will also be applied by other companies with particular sensitivity: on contract renewals in the sector, I believe it is a topic to be recorded in order to build a new story“.
From Varese News:
“Concertation – he added Umberto Colombo (Segr. Gen. CGIL Varese) - on which the Renzi government wants to put an end is the tool that allows us to achieve these results. I believe that if the system in the province of Varese has held up in all these years of recession, it is also due to the sense of responsibility of the trade unions and trade associations and the Novartis case is proof of this».
There Novartis, whose name comes from the Latin novae artes (new sciences), was born in 1996 from the merger of Feed And Sandoz, in Italy has 4,600 employees, has three production units Torre Annunziata (Naples), Trento and Origgio, in the province of Varese, where it has its headquarters.
And Novartis offers Article 18 as a benefit
Valentina Conte Rome – 2015-03-27 – The Republic
The unions rejoice: "You can do without the Jobs Act". The company belittles. The fact is that Novartis, the chemical-pharmaceutical giant, has just hired thirteen workers at its headquarters in Varese, putting on paper in the minutes of the agreement "the choice not to apply the provisions of the contract with increasing protections to them".
And therefore to recognize article 18 in the round, or reinstate it in the event of unlawful dismissal. A victory for highly skilled workers, engineers and computer scientists, some even with ten years of experience. A unicum that of Novartis, since the Jobs Act became law. But that could be replicated elsewhere.
Article 18 as a benefit? "It is not prohibited by the new regulations, it can be done in individual contracts as in company contracts, and the judge would recognize it as a more favorable treatment for the worker", explains Raffaele de Luca Tamajo, labor lawyer. Novartis specifies that here "it is a matter of transfer of contract between group companies", but that "in case of new hires it will make use of the Jobs Act".
The thirteen workers hired come from Alcon and Sandoz, two divisions of Novartis, it is true. For Pietro Ichino (Pd) "the old relationship is not interrupted, there was not even need to make it explicit". But then why did the company do it? For "the absence of objective technical legal precedents", reads the report of the agreement signed with the CGIL, CISL and UIL. In short, «to overcome the uncertainty of the new regulations», explains Fabio Pennati, Uiltec. «The fact is that in this way we overcome the Jobs Act and return to Fornero».
The risk was "of losing article 18", adds Ermanno Donghi, Filctem CGIL. "And instead they will keep it, together with seniority and salary". It's a theme, this one. Especially for skilled workers, not very young, who change company "Of course it can be done, but I don't think it's a large-scale trend", analyzes Alessandro Laterza, vice president of Confindustria with responsibility for the South.
«However, the fact that each company can go it alone in contracts is not a positive fact, on the contrary. A permanent negotiation opens, when time should be spent working, not negotiating». Returning to Fornero is «a prerogative of the parties, it doesn't shock me», adds Mauro Maccauro, president of Confindustria Salerno.
"And it demonstrates how the debate on article 18 is a political-cultural taboo, companies hire when they have orders and are willing to do anything to get the best workers". "It is a case to be studied, without a doubt, which reveals a paradox, the one on article 8 of Sacconi on company bargaining, first opposed by the unions, now beneficial", observes Carlo Dell'Aringa, Pd deputy, former undersecretary for Labour. "Why not? I would consider a contract with article 18 as a benefit, if I identify a worthy worker», confesses Luciano Ciurmino, patron of Yamamay and Carpisa and member of the Civic Choice
