THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT BROADENS THE RIGHT TO WORKPLACE TRADE UNION REPRESENTATION
With judgment no. 156, filed on 30 October, the Constitutional Court declared the unconstitutionality of Article 19, paragraph 1, of Law no. 300/1970 (the Workers’ Statute), insofar as it does not allow the establishment of workplace trade union representatives at the initiative of employees in each production unit, including within trade unions that are comparatively more representative at the national level.
The question of constitutionality had been raised by the Labour Section of the Modena Court, in connection with a trade union which—having neither signed nor taken part in the negotiation of the collective agreement applied in the company—was deemed not to meet the requirements set out by the challenged provision for establishing workplace union representatives.
Recalling its own case law, particularly judgment no. 231/2013, the Court reaffirmed that participation in the negotiation and signing of a collective agreement represents the ordinary criterion legitimising trade unions to establish workplace representation.
However, it held that applying this criterion rigidly may infringe the principles of reasonableness and trade union pluralism enshrined in Articles 3 and 39 of the Constitution, where it is used to exclude from collective bargaining—and therefore from the related rights and prerogatives—workers’ associations that nonetheless possess genuine representativeness.
For interpretative purposes, the Court identified the notion of “trade unions that are comparatively more representative at the national level” as the relevant reference standard, which has become a consolidated criterion in recent labour-relations legislation. At the same time, the Court urged Parliament to undertake a comprehensive and systematic reform of the rules governing trade union representation.
