Employment 2025

ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Angelo Zambelli, Barbara Grasselli and Alberto Testi, Zambelli & Partners

5.3 Other New Manifestations The emergence of digital platforms and the gig econ - omy is inextricably linked to both globalisation and the digital revolution. While these advancements have enabled sophisticated and technologically advanced work management systems, they have also raised concerns about the lack of protection for gig work - ers, including limited access to union representation. Initially, there were two primary perspectives on the legal status of work via digital platforms: one advocat - ing for its autonomous nature and another proposing the creation of a “tertium genus”, an intermediate cat - egory between subordination and autonomy. Recent - ly, however, both in Italy and across Europe, there has been a growing trend towards classifying gig workers as subordinate employees. This shift is often based on specific indicators, such as the methods of carrying out work, particularly in cases like food delivery riders. After the EU directive on platform work (2024/2831) - that must be transposed by December 2026 - entered into force, Italy has passed a delegated law in June 2025 to implement it. The upcoming framework intro - duces a legal presumption of employment when platforms exercise control, along with stronger rights on transparency, algorithmic management, and data protection. New technologies often allow for increased employ - er control and direction over workers’ activities. In response, the Italian legal system is moving towards ensuring the protection of subordinate work whenever the worker’s autonomy is deemed illusory. 6. Collective Relations 6.1 Unions The Italian Constitution provides the freedom to form or to join trade unions. In our system, trade unions are considered unincor - porated associations that do not need any authorisa - tion or registration to be recognised. The trade unions’ associations are governed by their bylaws, which do not need to be checked by any authority.

Workers have the right to establish trade unions, to join them and to take part in union activities within the workplace. The infrastructure in Italy for collective employees’ representation is organised at two levels: inside and outside the company. • Outside the company: Trade unions, typically organised by industry sector, are the primary enti - ties. Multiple trade unions representing different industries (eg, food, steel, textile) can join forces to form a “Confederation”. The major Italian trade union confederations are the General Federation of Italian Trade Unions ( Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro , CGIL), the Federation of Italian Workers Trade Unions ( Confederazione Sindacati Lavoratori Italiani , CISL) and the Italian Work Union ( Unione Italiana del Lavoro , UIL). Such confedera - tions bring together different national trade unions. In principle, each national trade union brings together the trade unions organised at the regional, provincial or municipal level. The trade unions at the national level are those involved in the execu - tion of the NCBAs. They also have some informa - tion and consultation rights. • Inside the company: the work councils. The prominent union organisations within the work - place are the company-level trade union representa - tion ( rappresentanze sindacali aziendali , RSA) and the unified trade union representation ( rappresentanze sindacali unitarie , RSU). 6.2 Employee Representative Bodies In Italy, trade unions have the option to establish either an RSU or an RSA within a company. Therefore, a trade union that decides not to establish an RSU maintains the right to set up an RSA (provided that the requirements mentioned below are met). On the other hand, trade unions that wish to participate in the election of an RSU have to formally waive the right to establish an RSA within the same company. • Article 19 of the Worker’s Statute states that an RSA may be formed through the initiative of the employees in plants with more than 15 employees within the trade union associations that:

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