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Four Italian trade unions – Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl, Flae-Cisl and UIltec – have called on Engie employees currently covered by collective agreements for the electricity/gas and water sectors to go on strike on 16 February. The call follows a failed attempt by the country's employment ministry to mediate on 15 January. The dispute stems from Engie's decision to no longer apply the two collective agreements – which cover some 500 employees out of a total of 2,600 – and to extend the scope of the national collective agreement for the mechanics and metals sector. The latter deal covers the rest of the staff at Engie but is less advantageous. Trade unions at the group (from the mechanics as well as energy sectors) were not opposed to harmonising the status of workers by means of a company agreement. The negotiation of the latter being difficult, the company decided to abandon the collective agreement for the electricity/gas and water sectors. According to the unions, the French company's behaviour is "unacceptable" and constitutes social dumping. The general secretaries of the unions say that the model for social relations in Italy "guarantees" specific treatment according to the sector or skills in question, adding that they "contest" the attempt to dismantle this model. "We will fight to guarantee that there is no form of unfair competition in a regulated and protected sector," they add. The dispute comes against a backdrop of recurring tensions between Italy and France, with numerous Italian companies having come under the control of French groups, while France opts to protect its own companies from Italian investment, as in the recent case involving Saint-Nazaire shipyards, case which is still in the memory.
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