Conciliation agreements negotiated with the help of a union cannot be validly concluded at the company’s headquarters. This is because company headquarters do not fall within “protected locations” (sedi protette) which are neutral and guarantee, together with the assistance provided by the union representative, that the worker is free to make his or her own decisions.
The Italian Court of Cassation affirmed this principle in order no. 10065 of 15 April 2024. This is a more restrictive interpretation than that laid down in order no. 1975 of 18 January 2024. According to the Court the locations selected by the legislator are exhaustive and do not permit substitutes, both because they are directly linked to the body responsible for conciliation and because of the aim of guaranteeing the worker a neutral environment, without employer influence.
Other related insights:
The Court of Vasto (judgement 116/2022), has ruled that non-compliance, by the employer, of the commitment to reopen negotiations for the renewal of the company’s supplementary agreement, in breach of the conciliation agreement signed with a trade union organisation, constitutes anti-union behaviour. According to the Court, the conduct violated the principles of fairness and good faith; notwithstanding the content of the agreement, the employer’s subsequent conduct showed that it had no serious, effective and factual intention to renegotiate the terms of the supplementary collective agreement. This conduct, the Court concluded, damaged the plaintiff, FILCAMS, which had valid reasons to expect that such reopening would enable it to exercise its rights. On the contrary, these rights were ‘thwarted’ by the employer’s conduct, which put the organisation at a crossroads: adhering or not adhering to the agreement already reached with the other unions. The Court ordered the company to comply with the conciliation agreement and reopen negotiations for the renewal of the supplementary agreement, and to act, in that respect, in accordance with the principles of fairness and good faith.
