Telecom Italia (TIM) has signed an agreement with trade unions to manage a total of 3,000 identified redundancies through solidarity contracts and early retirement. The deal was signed at the Ministry of Economic Development with the trade unions FISTel-CISL, UILCOM-UIL and UGL Telecomunicazioni (SLC-CGIL decided not to attend the negotiations) and envisages 1,700 redundancies in the Staff, Open Access Cross Activities and Information Technology divisions, plus a further 1,300 in the Caring Services division, which handles customer care activities. In a statement, Telecom Italia said the parties “undertake to reach specific corporate understandings within the next month." The agreement also envisages the application of early, voluntary redundancy to be taken by 330 workers of Telecom Italia.
The company added that it had shown willingness to revise the methods and tools used to facilitate the sustainable development of its business, given that the evolution of the legislative framework had helped to encourage a "generational handover". In July the operator announced the withdrawalof an earlier proposal to hire 4,000 young people over the next four years on the grounds that so-called "expansive solidarity" legislation had not yet taken effect. Under such legislation, the state pays incentives to companies that reduce working hours to create new jobs and supports early retirement. According to Italian press reports, Telecom Italia may be prepared to once again change its hiring policy if the government introduces the legislation in the forthcoming Stability Act.
