Industrial Relations and Creative Workers. Country Report: Italy (Work Package C)

According to the Europe 2020 strategy, cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are a strategic factor in developing the European economy and making it more cohesive. Furthermore, they are a promising terrain for the modernisation of labour markets. In particular, the vibrancy of these sectors allows job creation for educated workers, especially among young people and women. The CCIs are nevertheless heterogeneous. Workers are themselves polarised between those employed in large companies, who benefit from high wages and good working conditions, and those contracting out their skills to (small and flexible) organisations, who suffer from low income and high uncertainty. These latter, particularly, are exposed to market risks and are, thus, highly vulnerable. Vulnerability is a major focus of the literature on creative work. Scholars, here, emphasise the extensive use of non-standard forms of employment and of freelance work, normally associated with little job security, limited access to welfare and low income levels. What is more, creatives must deal with uncertain career paths in highly competitive environments. A common assumption is that, in order to cope with material deprivation, they tend to adopt a self-reflexive approach and generate intrinsic rewards. Despite their vulnerability, in effect, Italian creative workers are often reluctant to join the trade unions and engage in collective action. On the other hand, the unions have themselves difficulties in finding effective forms of organisation, including them in collective bargaining and offering them attractive services. Given these premises, the paper seeks to answer a series of questions about: the role of institutions in reducing market risks, in sectors characterised by high vulnerability and low unionisation; the capacity of the actors of industrial relations to develop innovative strategies of representation; the role of other actors, such as professional associations, in the field of worker representation, normally presided by traditional trade unions; the emergence of new actors, which occupy the political space or, in any case, respond an outstanding demand for representation. 1 For this purpose, it presents the findings, related to the Italian case, of a project funded by the DG Employment of the European Commission, namely IR-CREA, coordinated by the University of Florence, whose activities were carried out together with the Universities of Amsterdam and Copenaghen. In detail, the first section provides a combined review of three different types of literatures, focusing on professions, creative work and industrial relations. The second section, then, gives an overview of the results of two sectoral studies conducted in Italy, namely graphic design and video game development, trying to identify common patterns and specificities. Based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with key informants, it provides insights into inherent sectoral dynamics concerning employment and working conditions, and their implications for interest representation. Here, the attention goes to innovative strategies and practices, in the theoretical prospect of the “revitalisation” of union action, but not only. Representation, in fact, is understood in a broader sense than is usual in the field of industrial relations. The third section, finally, offers some interpretive explanations and discusses their theoretical implications.