Italy

The Italian system of industrial relations has been undergoing a prolonged phase of transition. The numerous events which have hit it in recent times have rapidly and profoundly changed the traits that marked the Italian model. Reasons and causes are both exogenous and endogenous, economic as well as institutional. The main exogenous factors are globalization, the financial crisis and the economic downturn, as well as the role of the international and European institutions, with their interventions in national policies. This scenario is partially shared with other deficit countries and is currently exerting pressure on historically divergent models of industrial relations (Katz and Darbishire 2000) to converge with those dominated by neoliberal policies (Baccaro and Howell 2011). Among the endogenous factors, we include the structural weakness of the Italian economy, with its territorial and social dualisms, macroeconomic imbalances, stagnating productivity and declining competitiveness, inadequate development of human capital and segmented labour markets. Last but not least, there is the uncertainty attached to a model of industrial relations created by a degree of voluntarism and legal abstention unknown in other developed economies.