Last Updated on December 9, 2025
On 22 November 2025, Federmeccanica, Assistal and the trade unions Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil and Uilm-Uil signed the Hypothesis of Agreement for renewal of the “National Collective Labour Agreement for the private metalworking industry and installation of plants”.
The new contract is valid from 22 November 2025 to 30 June 2028.
Below is a summary of the main new features of interest to companies in the sector.
Economic aspects
For all classification levels, the contract details a new minimum wage scale in force from June 2026, 2027, and 2028.
It also introduces a significant increase in corporate welfare. As from 2026, employers must grant workers 250 euros of welfare tools per year, to be used by 31 May of the following year. These services must be provided by February 2026 and by 1 June of each subsequent year.
Fixed-term contracts and staff leasing
Hiring, extension or renewal of the fixed-term contract lasting more than 12 months and not exceeding 24 months are allowed in the following cases:
- workers over 50 years of age;
- workers under 35 years of age who have been unemployed for six months or who live with one or more dependants;
- workers in the CIGS (Extraordinary Wage Guarantee Fund) for at least six months or who have been unemployed for the same amount of time;
- workers to be employed during the periods of fairs, exhibitions (including up to 15 days before and after the event), for projects with a set duration or in the context of specific orders or temporary assignments.
The use of the aforementioned reasons, starting from 1 January 2027, is subject to confirmation of open-ended contracts for a number of workers equal to 20% of the fixed-term contracts terminated in the previous year and stipulated for the same reasons. Relationships terminated during the probationary period, due to resignation or dismissal for just cause, are excluded from this calculation.
The cases above also constitute a reference element for staff-leasing agencies. From 1 January 2026, agency leased employees with an open-ended contract who have carried out at the same company tasks of equal level and legal category for more than 48 months in total (even non-continuously) accrue the right to be hired as permanent employees by the company user. Periods of work for the company in a different location until 31 December 2025 are not included in this calculation.
Working hours and time off
Annual hours that can be used for calculating multi-week working hours have been increased from 80 to 96 hours.
Changes regarding leave:
- from 2027, shift workers (not employed in the steel sector) on 18 or more shifts per week, will be entitled to an additional 4 hours leave per year and from 2028, an additional 4 hours leave for those working on 21 shifts;
- paid annual leave (so-called PARs) available for collective use has been increased from 5 to 7 days, while notice for individual use has been reduced from 10 to 7 days and PAR can now also be used in increments of 2 hours, instead of 4;
- in companies with more than 150 employees, migrant workers with more than 5 years of service can now request aleave of absence for a minimum period of one month and a maximum of two, to be taken continuously, to visit family members in their country of origin.
Promotion
The right to promotion to the next level is now dependent on a longer period of performance of duties superior to those of the assigned classification.
For lower levels, the continuous period goes from 30 to 60 days, while the non-continuous period is now 120 days instead of 75 over a year or 6 months over three years. For higher levels (from B1 to A1), the period has been extended to 4 continuous months or 9 non-continuous months.
Contracting
It is expressly stipulated that legality and correctnessmust be guaranteed when choosing contractors.
In this sense, the client must request that the contractor apply the appropriate category collective agreement to the work performed, signed by the nationally most representative Trade Union Organisations that complies with all social security and safety regulations.
Companies with more than 400 employees (so-called large companies) must provide aninformative note to the Works Council at least twice a year on direct contracts performed at the production unit giving: the name of the contractor, the Collective agreement applied, the duration, the subject of the contract and the average number of workers employed.
In the case of bids offering the same quality and technical-economic conditions, application of the Metalworking Collective Agreement in question is considered a positive element.
In the case of changes in contractors in large companies, the exchange of information between the outgoing and incoming company is encouraged to favour employment continuity and counter unfair competition.
Finally, the social partners have decided to establish a section of theNational Observatory on Procurement with a database of “prequalified” contractors that guarantee social, salary and gender minimum standards, to be made available to companies in the sector.
Parental leave
From 1 January 2026, parents of children up to 4 years of age are entitled to three days of paid annual leave in the event of illness of the latter.
For these days, the worker is entitled to an allowance equal to 80% of their normal salary, to be paid by the company.
Serious illness and disability protection
The provisions of Law no. 106/2025 have been transposed verbatim, according to which workers suffering from oncological, disabling or chronic diseases (also rare), with a degree of disability of 74% or more, may, once their periods of justified absence due to any reason have expired, benefit from:
- 24 months (continuous or discontinuous) of unpaid leave. During this period, the worker has the right to retain their job, but must not perform any other work. At the end of this leave, if the duties envisaged permit, the worker is entitled to priority access to remote working;
- 10 hours per year of paid leave for medical appointments, tests, analyses and other treatment. This right also applies to parents of minors suffering from one of the above-mentioned diseases.
In addition, once workers with a disability have exceeded the grace period, their job will be retained for a further period (from 30 to 60 days depending on length of service) with an allowance of up to 80% of their salary, to be paid by the company.
The above measures will come into force on 1 January 2026.
Health and Safety
The agreement strengthens the tools for prevention and protection of health and safety in the workplace insofar as:
- short safety training sessions are to be made official and shall be held during working hours (so-called training breaks), which are now mandatory in production units with more than 200 employees;
- all companies must carry out assessment of the causes of accidents after an incident to prevent their recurrence (so-called post-incident analysis);
- newly elected Workers’ Safety Representatives (RLS) must receive 8 hours of additional training on specific company risks.
Training
In view of the establishment of the MetApprendo tool, which aims to carry out the services of planning and exercising of the right to training, as of 1 January 2026, employers are expected to pay a contribution equal to 1.50 euro a year for each worker, to be paid by April.
Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo is at your disposal for any support and/or clarification you may need.
For further information: comunicazione@toffolettodeluca.it
