INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE

STUDIES AND REPORTS
Series D (Wages and Hours) No. 8

HOURS OF LABOUR
IN INDUSTRY
ITALY

NOVEMBER

1 9 2 3

GENEVA

CONTENTS
EXISTING LEGISLATION

Industry and Commerce
Legislative Decree of 15 March 1923 and Administrative Regulations of 10 September 1923
Transport
State Railways : Legislative Decree of 22 July 1923
Privately worked railways and tramways, and public inland
navigation services : Legislative Decree of 15 May 1919 ;
Decisions of the Commission on Standardisation of Conditions
of Service dated 8, 13, 20, and 29 May and 9 and 13 June 1919
COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS

Metals
Textiles
Wood
Chemicals
Glass
Food
Building
Paper
Printing

Page

5
12

15
16

17
19
26
27
27
28
29
32
32

Existing Legislation

INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

Legislative Decree of 15 March 1923.
Hours of work in industry and commerce in Italy are at present
governed by the Legislative Decree of 15 March 1923 (*) and the
Administrative Regulations of 10 September 1923 (2).
A first Bill for the regulation of hours of work was submitted
to the Chamber of Deputies on 5 February 1920 by the Minister
of Industry, Commerce, and Labour. It lapsed at the end of the
legislative session, but was reintroduced unchanged on 20 June 1921
by the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare. It was referred
to the Parliamentary Committee on Labour Legislation, which
reported on 30 June 1922 and proposed certain modifications,
•chiefly with regard to overtime, the authorisations to be given
by the factory inspectorate, and the penalties provided for infraction of the regulations. The Bill so amended was to be debated on
the resumption of the sittings of the Chamber in November 1922.
This debate did not take place, and as the result of the statements
made on 9 and 10 February 1923 by the Minister of Labour and
the President of Council, the Bill was replaced by a Legislative
Decree.
This Decree same into operation four months after its publication in the Gazzetta ufficiale, i.e. on 10 August 1923 (to be converted
into an Act it must be submitted to Parliament). It regulates
hours of work in industry and commerce, and includes agriculture.
The administration of the Decree for persons employed in industrial
and commercial undertakings is provided for in the Regulations
issued on 10 September 1923. Further Regulations issued on the
•same date deal with agricultural undertakings. Only the provisions
relating to industry and commerce will be examined here, to the
exclusion of those covering agriculture.
i1) Regio decreto-legge 15 marzo 1923, n. 692, relativo alla limitazione
•dell'orario di lavoro per gli operai ed impiegati delle aziende industriali o
-commerciali di qualunque natura (Gazzetta ufficiale del Regno d'Italia,
No. 84, 10 Apr. 1923).
(*) Regolamento per l'applicazione del R. decreto-legge 15 marzo 1923.
n. 692, relativo alla limitazione dell'orario di lavoro per gli operai ed impiegati delle aziende industriali o commerciali. Issued and approved by Regio
decreto 10 settembre 1923, n. 1955 (Gazzetta ufficiale del Regno d'Italia,
No. 288, 28 Sept. 1923).

— 6 —

Scope of the Decree
The provisions of the Legislative Decree apply to commerciar
and industrial undertakings of all kinds, including establishments
for technical education and those of a philanthropic character,
offices, public works, hospitals, and all places where work is performed for salary or wages under the direct control of another
person. I t does not apply to persons engaged in domestic work,
the managing staff of undertakings, and commercial travellers.
The Decree also provides that separate regulations are to be
issued to deal with work done on board ship and with public
offices and services, including those managed by private contractors (Section 1).
In agricultural undertakings the Decree applies only to casual
workers (avventiziati.)
The hours of work of other agricultural
workers are to be dealt with in separate regulations. Agricultural
undertakings involving partnership (compartecipazione)
do not
come within the scope of the Decree (Section 2).
Finally, the Decree applies to members of co-operative societies
working for the latter if they are in receipt of regular and fixed
remuneration (even if such remuneration is combined with a share
in profits or any similar form of payment), or when working with
persons not members of the co-operative society (Section 2 of the
Regulations).
Limitation

and Distribution

of Hours of Work

Maximum Hours of Work. The normal maximum hours of
actual work may not exceed 8 per day or 48 per week (Section 1).
Definition of Actual Work. Actual work for purposes of the
Decree means any work requiring assiduous and continuous
attention.
Consequently this definition excludes occupations
which owing to their nature or to special circumstances require
only intermittent work or mere attendance or caretaking (Section
3). These occupations will be defined in a special schedule to be
issued on the recommendation of the Minister of National Economy
(Section 6 of the Regulations).
The period of actual work is taken to exclude interpolated rest
periods (which may be spent either inside or outside the undertaking), the time spent on going to work, breaks of not less than
10 minutes which do not amount to more than 2 hours in each
period of the working day, and during which the person in question
is not required to work. Nevertheless, breaks of even more than 15
minutes which are allowed to workers employed on specially heavy
work for the purpose of restoring their physical fitness for resuming
work are counted as actual work. Time lost owing to unforeseen
circumstances or force majeure may be made up, as also any interruption of work agreed on by the employer and the workers, on.

-condition that the consequent extension in hours of work does not
exceed the maximum of one hour a day and t h a t it is governed by
collective agreements (Section 5 of the Regulations).
Provision is made for the intervention of the chief district
inspector of industry and labour in the event of disputes arising
•out of the calculation of total hours of work (Section 7 of the
Regulations).
Distribution of the Normal Maximum Hours of Work Over a
Period longer than a Week. When technical or seasonal conditions
necessitate it the 8-hour day or the 48-hour week may be exceeded
provided that the period of the extension does not exceed the
period of greatest pressure of work (massima intensità lavorativa)
in seasonal industries and three months in industries working all
the year round. If in the latter technical or seasonal conditions so
require, however, this period may be exceeded provided that the
average of 48 hours in the week is not exceeded over a maximum
period of a calendar year.
The 8-hour day or 48-hour week may also be exceeded for work
subject to technical or seasonal requirements by means of an
agreement concluded between the parties concerned. Such agreements must first be approved by the chief district inspector of
industry and labour. If the latter refuses authorisation, an appeal
may be made to the Minister of National Economy, whose decision
will be embodied in a Decree published in summary form in the
Bollettino del Lavoro.
Any employer who wishes to exceed the normal maximum
hours of work must first notify the district inspectorate of industry
and labour (Section 8 of the Regulations).
The industries which may exceed the 8-hour day or 48-hour
week, and the limits within which the authorisation may apply,
are defined as follows in the schedule attached to a Decree of 10
September 1923 (*).
Mines and Quarries
Mines and quarries more than 1,000 metres 6 months in the year.
above sea level (all workers).
Mining (workers employed in mining with 3 months in the year,
steam-driven machinery and all surface
with a maximum of 9
work).
hours a day and 56
hours a week.
Salt works (workers employed in collecting 4 months in the year.
salt).
(*) Regio decreto 10 settembre 1923, n. 1957. Approvazione della tabella
indicante le industrie e le lavorazioni per le quali è consentita la facoltà
di superare le 8 ore giornalieri o le 48 settimanali di lavoro (Gazzetta ufficiale
del Regno d'Italia, No. 228, 28 Sept. 1923).

Metal Industry
Engineering and iron and steel works (workers 2 months in the yearemployed in manufacturing plant for wine
factories and breweries and agricultural
machinery).
Dockyards for the construction, repair, and 4 months in the year.
demolition of ships (workers employed in
the open air).
Textile Industry
60 hours in the week for a
Dyeing, printing, bleaching, and finishing.
maximum of 3 months,
with an annual averageof 48 hours in the week.
Average of 60 hours in
Other textile trades:
the week over a maximum of 3 months, with
an annual average of
48 hours in the week.
Building and Construction
Building, roadmaking, and hydraulic con- 4 months in the year.
struction (workers employed in the open
air).
Brick and Cement Works
Brickmaking by hand (workers employed in
the open air).
Brickworks (workers employed in quarries).
Cement works (workers employed in quarries).
Food Industry
Breweries and beer warehouses' (workers employed in bottling, despatch, and delivery).
Mineral water factories and warehouses (workers employed in bottling, despatch, and
delivery).
Wine manufacture (workers employed in
transport, pressing, decanting, fermentation of must).
Sugar industry (all workers employed during
the beet season).
Tomato preserve factories (all workers employed in handling the fresh fruit).
Vegetable preserve factories (all workers employed in handling fresh produce).
Handling of fresh fish.

4 months in the year.
Average of 60 hours in
the week over a maximum of 3 months, with
an annual average of
48 hours in the week.
3 months in the year.
3 months in the year.
September, October, November.
3 months in the year.
3 months in the year.
3 months in the year.
3 months in the year,
according to the natureof the catch.

Chemical Industry
Manufacture of acetates and their derivatives 5 months in the year.
(workers employed in summer in the forests
in cutting the wood for distillation and
transporting it by cable).
Manufacture of oils (workers employed in 5 months in the year,
handling residuum).
from November to»
March.

— 9 —
Clothing Industry
Tailoring shops with periods of high pressure 3 months in the year.
and a slack season (all workers).
Millinery (all workers).
3 months in the year.
Capmaking (all workers).
3 months in the year.
Straw hat making (all workers).
months in the year.
Laundries (only workers employed in hanging 4 months in the year.
Unen in the open air).
Other Industries
, Industries involving continuous processes on
the 3-shift system (all shift workers).
Any industries taking part in an exhibition
(all workers).
Workshops with plant driven solely by water
power and liable to be stopped b y drought
or floods (all workers).
Industries and occupations specified in Schedules A and B appended to the Regulations
of 8 August 1908 on the administration of
the Act of 7 July 1907 on the weekly rest
and holidays in industrial undertakings (*)
(all workers except those specified above
who are entitled to more favourable conditions) .

56 hours in one week out
of three, with an average of 48 hours in the
week.
1 month before the exhibition is opened.
4 months in the year.
56 hours in the week for
the periods specified in
the schedules.

In all the industries and occupations enumerated above hours
of work are limited to 10 in the day or 60 in the week during the
periods fixed for each industry or occupation, unless provision is
expressly made for greater limitation. This limitation does not
apply, however, if an authorisation to exceed the normal maximum
-hours of work has been granted on the basis of an agreement
concluded between the parties concerned.
Exceptions
Preparatory and Accessory Work. Exceptions are allowed,
subject to the consent of the parties concerned, for preparatory
and accessory work to be performed outside the normal hours of
the undertaking (Section 6). This is taken to mean the work
involved in seeing that the plant and equipment are in running
order, and in preparing raw materials, cleaning, finishing, and
removing products, and, generally, all work intended to secure
regular resumption and cessation of work in industries where
P) Schedule A specifies the industries in which operations are confined
to a few months of the year and involve the handling of raw materials liable
to rapid deterioration, and which are therefore exempt under Section 2 (a)
of the Act of 7 July 1907 from observing the weekly rest during the whole
period of operations.
Schedule B specifies the industries in which a period of exceptional
activity is customary once a year and which are therefore exempt under
Section 2 (c) of the Act of 7 July 1907 from observing the weekly rest
during six weeks in the year.

— 10 —

processes are not continuous. I n seasonal industries preparatory
work covers operations effected before the starting of work in the
undertaking which require of necessity an extension of hours of
work in order to ensure punctuality and regularity in starting work.
The following work may also be performed outside the normal
limits of the 8-hour day and 48-hour week :
(a) repair, construction, loading and unloading, cleaning, and
supervision of equipment and all other operations which cannot be
performed during normal working hours without inconvenience to
the undertaking or danger to the workers ;
(b) annual stocktaking ;
(c) caretaking and watching the undertaking ;
(d) special tests and investigations (Section 10 of the Regulations).
Force Majeure and Impending Dangers. Work may be prolonged beyond the normal limits in unforeseen cases which are not
recurrent, if the work is needed for the safety of human beings or
equipment or the preservation of materials. The chief district
inspector of industry and labour must be notified of such prolongation within 24 hours (Section 11 of the Regulations).
Overtime. If the parties agree, a period of overtime may be
added to the normal working day mentioned in Section 1 of the
Legislative Decree, not exceeding 2 hours a day and 12 hours a
week or an equivalent number of hours on an average taken over
a specified period, provided that overtime is in all cases reckoned
separately and paid for at a rate not less than 10 per cent, above
t h a t for ordinary work or at a correspondingly enhanced rate in the
case of piece work (Section 5). The agreements must first be approved by the chief district inspector of industry and labour.
If the parties agree, an extension of the maximum of 12 hours'
overtime a week may be authorised for a period not exceeding
nine consecutive weeks, provided that the average overtime during
such period does not exceed 12 hours in the week.
I n urgent cases the employer may make use of the power to
work overtime, provided that he notifies the chief district inspector
of industry and labour within 24 hours and proves that the case
is urgent (Section 9 of the Regulations).
Temporary Exceptions.
The Minister of National Economy may
approve temporary exceptions to the terms of the Legislative
Decree in specified industries, if reasons of general interest call for
such a step. The authorisations will be published in the Bollettini
del Lavoro (Section 13 of the Regulations).

— 11 —

Transitional Provisions
The Minister may delay by not more than twelve months the
coming into operation of the Decree for undertakings or parts of
undertakings which show that in order to comply with the provisions of the Decree they must make considerable alterations in
their establishments (Section 12). In order to benefit by such
delay the employers or their organisations must make an application to the Minister through the chief district inspector of industry
and labour (Section 13 of the Regulations).
In a memorandum of 10 March 1923 to the Council of Ministers
the Minister of Labour described the scope of the Legislative
Decree as follows :
The establishment of the 8-hour day was secured in this country by
agreements freely entered into between employers' and workers'
organisations. It cannot be denied, however, that there has been a
profound change in the situation of the country since the date on which
such agreements were concluded. Italian industry and agriculture can
only hope to survive the present critical situation at the cost of heavy
sacrifices, sacrifices which it is the ungrateful task of the present Government to impose on every class, while ensuring that the burden of
sacrifice is fairly distributed.
During the present state of depression, due not to accidental and
transitory causes, but to others, manifold and deep seated, work of
reconstruction and organisation which will be both painful and necessarily slow would seem essential. The economic security of the country
cannot be achieved without reducing all costs of production to a minimum. The significance of the Legislative Decree must therefore be
clearly defined from the outset.
The solemn affirmation of the principle of the limitation of hours
of work may be regarded as a wise action of the Government, if the
purpose of the limitation is to prevent the burden of the depression
and reconstruction from weighing solely on the workers, but it cannot
be justified if it is carried so far as to involve certain economic injury
to production and the workers themselves.
Under present circumstances, therefore, Government intervention
must above all aim at tempering the rigorous action of economic laws
so as to prevent exploitation of the workers and to compel industry and
agriculture themselves to work for a reduction in costs of production
by means of improved organisation and technical processes. * s .¿FSSÉS

The memorandum then compared the new regulations with
the Bill approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Labour
Legislation in June 1922.
A general defect of the Bill was the intentionally vague and ambiguous wording of its principal provisions. Settlement of the most
important questions (definition of actual work, distribution of the
normal maximum hours of work over a period longer than a week,
appeals, regulations, temporary exceptions, extension of notice) is
reserved for a permanent labour committee, or in other words left to
the decision of a small number of representatives of employers and
workers, as if the Government could evade all responsibility for all
national economic questions. In particular the Bill contained provisions
which were obviously incompatible with the real situation of the
country and the prospects of industry and agriculture, and could
therefore result only in dangerous illusions among the workers and in

— 12 —
disputes. Such, for instance, were the provisions for the payment of
overtime at a rate 25 per cent, above that for ordinary work (Clause 5),
and for the increase of wages in cases where the enforcement of the
Act would involve a reduction in the hours of work actually in force
(Clause 7). The same criticism applies to the provisions which, being
in contradiction to the interests and wishes of the workers, would
result—even if it were possible to enforce them—in an unjust restriction
of individual liberty and vexatious limitations on industry, as, for
instance, in the provision prohibiting
extra work performed at home
or in other undertakings (Clause 8) (a).
TRANSPORT

State Railways
Legislative Decree of 22 July 1923.
The 8-hour day was introduced on the State Railways for the
whole of the staff by the Decree of 8 June 1919. Section 1 provides
that —
All staff employed on the State Railways, with certain exceptions
to be determined by the Minister of Railways and Maritime Transport,
taking into account the conditions of service of the different grades and
categories of staff, shall work not more than 8 hours in the day and
shall be entitled to one day's rest in the week.

The 8-hour day thus provided was first introduced on 1 July
1919 and was completely established by April 1921.
Staff other than Train Staff
The Decree of 8 June 1919 was applied to the various grades
of stañ other than train staff (workers in stations, depots, workshops, on the permanent way, etc.) by introducing the 8-hour day,
first for labourers and similar workers (lampmen, shunting staff,
platelayers, etc.) and workers employed on arduous and continuous work. For the rest of the staff certain reductions in hours
were granted. The whole staff without distinction were entitled
to a normal minimum daily rest of 10 hours, so that the maximum
period of service (periodo lavorativo) was 14 hours.
During 1920 and 1921 the 8-hour day was applied by degrees
to all grades of railway staff for whom provision had not previously
been made. The last grade to benefit was that employed on guarding
the permanent way (level-crossing keepers and line keepers).
This last measure coincided with a reform of the system of guarding
the permanent way (the creation of mobile line keepers) and with
the abolition of most of the posts of level-crossing keepers (abolition of 6,400 posts).
(J) Clause 8 of the Bill ran as follows : "Employers are forbidden to
increase the normal hours of work laid down by Section 1, either by giving
work to their employees to be done at home, or by employing them on
work which, added to that which they have already done in another undertaking, would exceed the maximum number of hours."

— 13 —

The new Legislative Decree of 22 July 1923, which came into
iorce on the date of its publication in the officiai Bulletin of the
State Railways on 9 August 1923, replaced the Decree of 8 J u n e
1919 (x). It makes a very clear distinction between actual work
a n d the period during which the worker must be on duty simply
for the purpose of being in attendance or watching. I n calculating
hours of work the following must be included :
(a) time spent in executing an order, irrespective of the nature
of the work ;
(b) two-thirds of the time during which the worker is required
•simply to be in attendance or watching.
Hours of work are not to include :
(a) periods of interruption lasting one hour or more during
which the worker is entitled to leave his place of work ;
(b) time spent by the worker in going from his house to his
place of work and returning home ;
(c) time spent by the worker in going from his place of residence
to take up his work and in returning when it is performed.
The Legislative Decree fixes average hours thus calculated at
8 per day and 48 per week. A distinction is made between work
properly so called and hours of duty (orario di servizio). These
hours cover both actual work and mere attendance, and must
not exceed 12 hours between two consecutive periods of rest.
The Decree further fixes the length of daily and weekly rests.
Each worker is entitled to a daily rest of not less than 9 consecutive
hours in the 24, and to a weekly rest which must as a rule be not
less than 24 hours.
In exceptional circumstances or for technical reasons the
workers may be required t o exceed the limits so fixed, b u t such
additional duty must be compensated by a corresponding reduction
in working hours either before or after the period of extra work,
or paid in accordance with the measures in force.
Locomotive and Train Staff
Hours of work for locomotive and train staff were dealt with
successively in the Regulations of 23 April 1920, the Ministerial
Decree of 23 February 1921, and the Decree of 22 July 1923
(Section 6). The principle of the 8-hour day was first applied to the
locomotive and train staff by regulations issued in agreement
with the Italian Union of Railwaymen (Sindacato
ferrovieri
italiani) on 23 April 1920. New regulations were contained in
a Ministerial Decree of 23 February 1921, issued for the purpose
of preventing excessive subdivision of time and return journeys
without working.
i1) The regulations for the enforcement of the Decree axe at present
.under consideration, and will be issued shortly.

— 14 —

The provisions of this Decree were opposed by the staff concerned and their enforcement was delayed until an explanatory
Circular was published on 21 March 1921. The vague terms of
the Circular made it possible to continue the system established
by the Regulations of 23 April 1920. The Decree of 23 February
1921 was not completely enforced until the promulgation of t h e
Royal Decrees of 11 June 1922 (Nos. 987 and 988), which granted
special allowances to locomotive and train staff so that the remuneration of each worker could be more exactly proportioned to his
actual work. These last regulations did not prove satisfactory to
the State Railway Administration, and b y the end of 1922 the High
Commissioner, Mr. Eduardo Torre, began to consider their amendment.
A comparison of these three successive sets of regulations is
not possible here. The Decree of 22 July 1923 regulates the hours
of work of locomotive and train staff as follows. Work properly so
called is first defined and the hours of such work fixed. The Decree
then determines the length of the period between two normal rest
periods, which covers the period of work properly so called, interpolated rest periods, and the time during which the worker is on
d u t y in reserve. Finally, the length of the normal daily and weekly
rests is fixed.
Work properly so called includes :
(a) the interval between the arrival of the train on which t h e
worker is employed (actual time of arrival, if the train is late)
and departure on the same train or another, if this interval between
two schedule journeys does not exceed 2 hours for locomotive staff
and 90 minutes for other train staff ;
(b) two-thirds of the time spent by the worker in travelling
by train without working, by order, from one place to another in
order to start work or to return when the work is performed ;
(c) half the time spent on duty in reserve away from home.
The total period of such work between two normal periods of
rest must not as a rule exceed 10 hours, and for locomotive engineers
and firemen on expresses and fast trains 9 hours. The full period
between two normal rest periods, including, interpolated rest
periods and time spent in reserve, must not exceed 12 hours. This
maximum may be increased to 14 hours if the period of work
properly so called does not exceed 8 hours, and is interrupted by a.
rest period of not less than 4 hours.
The normal minimum daily rest at home is 14 hours (15 hours
for locomotive engineers and firemen), which may be reduced to
12 hours if the preceding period of work does not exceed 6 hours
(5 hours for locomotive staff). The minimum period away from
home is 8 hours, which may be reduced to 7 hours, provided that
the reduction is made u p either before or after, and preferably
a t home. The weekly rest may not be less than 36 hours.

— 15 —

Privately Worked Railways and Tramways and Public Inland
Navigation Services
Legislative Decree of 15 May 1919.
Decisions of 8, 13, 20, and 29 May and 9 and 13 June 1919 of the
Commission for the Standardisation of Conditions of Service.
The Decree of 15 May 1919 applies solely to privately owned
railways and tramways and public inland navigation services.
Section 1 provides that —
Owners of private railways, mechanically driven tramways, and
public inland navigation services shall be required to establish an
average working day of 8 hours and a weekly rest day on the lines and
for the grades of staff determined by the Commission for the Standardisation of Conditions of Service in conformity with the methods laid
down for the staff of the State Railways.

In accordance with this provision the Commission for the
Standardisation of Conditions of Service, by its decisions of 8, 13,
20, and 29 May and 9 and 13 June 1919 determined the methods
of establishing the average 8-hour day.
On the basis of these decisions, the 8-hour day was granted
to all urban tramway workers without distinction, while for the
stañ of suburban tramways and inland navigation services the
institution of the 8-hour day was limited to locomotive and train
staff (8 hours being taken as a daily average), workers on board
ship, workshop staff and general labourers and all employed on
similar work (lampmen, shunters, keepers of the line, etc.). For all
other grades of staff the 8-hour day was established only for
intensive work requiring continuous attention. In certain cases a
reduction in hours of work was granted.

— 16 —

Collective Agreements

Before the Decree of 15 March 1923 came into operation t h e
regulation of hours of work in Italy was based almost entirely on
collective agreements. The previous section showed the importance
of collective agreements in the administration of the Decree.
Now that the new legislation is coming into force, some description
may therefore be given of the provisions of current collective
agreements in the more important Italian industries.
As will be shown below, the principal collective agreements
governing hours of work in Italy which were concluded in 1919and 1920 were national agreements. Such were, for instance, the
agreements for the metal, textile, building, chemical, and paper
industries. They all maintained the principle of the 8-hour day and
48-hour week. A certain number of these agreements have since
been cancelled, to be replaced by local agreements.
In Italy a distinction is usually made between what are known
as the "economic " and "general " parts of a collective agreement.
The economic part deals with wages, the general part with the
regulation of working conditions. As a rule only the former is
denounced and amended by a new agreement, while the latter
remains in force.
In the list of agreements drawn up for each industry an attempt
has been made to indicate in each case the period of validity of
the agreement. Where it seemed necessary, the name and nature
of the employers' and workers' organisations party to the agreement
have also been given. The list is not complete, but it includes t h e
chief collective agreements regulating hours of work in the more
important industries. The provisions of collective agreements
appear to apply to most undertakings except certain firms
which do not belong to the employers' associations party to t h e
agreements or in which the workers are not organised.
At the meeting of the Executive Committee of the General
Confederation of Italian Industry held at the end of November 1922"
it was resolved t h a t the Confederation would continue its policy
of faithful execution of the agreements which had been concluded
with representatives of the workers. It was argued t h a t it was all
the more important faithfully to pursue this policy because labour
organisations had been losing power. The Confederation considered,
however, that attention must again be drawn to its previous arguments as to the need for establishing agreements with the workers
in conformity with the various regional, local, or individual condi-

— 17 —

tions of industrial undertakings, which rendered it impossible in
the interests of industry and the workers to conclude general
national agreements. Within the limits thus laid down the Confederation decided to pursue the policy which it had adopted with
respect to the workers in different industrial undertakings, even
if the workers' organisation had changed in nature or been dissolved.
In a resolution passed in May 1923 the General Confederation
again urged industrial organisations to pay the greatest attention
to "executing collective agreements loyally and fairly, all the more
because the spirit of co-operation was becoming more developed
in the organisations in which the workers were regrouping themselves ".
In regulating hours of work the collective agreements have
dealt mainly with the four following questions :
(1) length of the working day, week, or year ;
(2) the two-shift system ;
(3) hours of work in continuous-process industries (metal
industries, paper manufacture, electrical undertakings, and chemical
works) ;
(4) regulation and remuneration of overtime and night work.
Details for the principal industries are given below.
METAL INDUSTRY

Number of workers : about 400,000 (1).
The Italian Federation of Metal Workers (Federazione italiana
operai metallurgici) and the Lombardy Union of Engineering and
Metal-Working Employers (Consorzio Lombardo fera industriali
meccanici e metallurgici) concluded an agreement on 20 February
1919 fixing the working week at 48 hours for engineering, shipbuilding, iron and steel works. The agreement stated that weekly
hours had previously been from 55 to 60 in engineering (2), and 72
in iron and steel works. The new hours were to come into force as
from 1 May 1919 in engineering and shipbuilding works and as
from 1 July 1919 in iron and steel works. On the same day the
employers' association in the metal industries of Liguria concluded
a similar agreement with the Italian Federation of Metal Workers.
On 24 March 1919 Naples followed the example of Genoa and Milan.
Detailed arrangements for the new limitation of hours of work
were made in two sets of regulations drawn up at the same time.
(x) Relazione delle Commissioni sul disegno di legge, che approve la nuova
tarif ja generale dei dazi doganali ; Atti parlamentari. Rome, 1923.
(a) A statement published by the Fiat automobile works in 1922 shows
t h a t hours oí work in this firm have been reduced as follows :
Hours per week
Hours per week
1913,
Jan.
60
1915, 1 Jan.
57
1913, 21 June
59
1916, 1 Jan.
55
1914, 1 Jan.
58
1919, 3 Mar.
48

— 18 —

Hours of Work
The regulations of March 1919 for iron and steel works provided
that 8 hours' actual work per day should be taken to mean 48 hours'
work per week. The regulations of February-March 1919 for
engineering, shipbuilding, and similar workers stipulated that the
normal working week should be 48 hours divided into days of 8
hours from Monday to Saturday.
.Hours of work are to be indicated in a schedule posted up at the
entrance to the works and reckoned by the works clock. The time
at which work begins in the morning and afternoon is to be fixed
by agreement between the management and the workers' committee.
Shift System
The regulations for the engineering industry provide that the
workers may not object to the establishment of two or three
shifts per day. The hours of each shift will be fixed by agreement
between the workers and the management. The worker has to
work in the shift to which he is assigned. When there are two shifts
the second must follow the first with only a short break, so that the
8 hours' work of the second shift does not fall, or falls only to a
limited extent, within the hours of night. Daytime is taken to be
12 hours from the time at which the first shift starts work in the
morning.
Continuons

Processes

Regulations for the iron and steel industry fix the hours of
work for establishments requiring continuous work throughout the
week at 144 over a period of three weeks. The weekly hours may
therefore be 56, 48, and 40 respectively for the three weeks.
Overtime
According to the regulations for the engineering industry
overtime may be only temporary and not permanent. The regulations for the iron and steel industry provide that in case of emergency no worker may refuse without valid reason to continue to
work when the hours of work have been extended. The regulations
for the engineering industry limit the amount of overtime to 10
hours per week, excluding Saturday. Exceptions may, however,
be allowed in cases of urgent necessity.
The collective agreement of 1 October 1920 fixes the increase
over normal rates of pay for overtime for engineering, shipbuilding,
and similar workers as follows :
30
50
100
20
60

per cent, for the first 2 hours after 8 hours' work ;
»
» for the 3 following hours ;
»
» for any hours after this ;
»
» for night work ;
»
» for holidays.

— 19 —

In continuous processes and auxiliary work dependent on
these the iron and steel regulations provide that hours worked
beyond 48 hours per week shall be considered as overtime. The
increase in pay for overtime for iron and steel workers employed
on continuous processes was fixed by the collective agreement of
1 October 1920 at 25 per cent, for working days and 40 per cent.
for holidays.
An enquiry into the metal industries as a whole undertaken in
April 1922 by the Italian Ministry of Labour also dealt with the
8-hour day in these industries. The results of the enquiry, which
were published in the Bollettino del Lavoro (October 1922), indicate
that the 48-hour week applies to the great majority of the workers
{96.9 per cent.) and undertakings (90.1 per cent.), and in particular
in the automobile industry, where the 48-hour week is in force for
99.4 per cent, of the persons employed. The 48-hour week is relatively least enforced in the manufacture of instruments of precision
and the precious metals industries, where it applies to only 93.4 per
cent, of the workers.
The 48-hour week is exceeded only in a very small number of
cases (8,290 workers or 3.1 per cent, of the total number employed).
As a rule the undertakings in question are small. In the engineering
industry, for instance, the 48-hour week is exceeded only in 166
factories employing 5,819 workers, or about 35 workers per factory.
The corresponding figures for iron and steel works are 21 undertakings employing 1,370 workers, or about 65 workers per undertaking.
An examination of hours of work by regions shows that the
48-hour week is observed chiefly in Liguria, where it applies to
99.8 per cent, of the workers, in Piedmont (98.1 per cent.), in
Emilia (96.1 per cent.), in Lombardy (95 per cent.), in Venetia
(95 per cent.), and Tuscany (95 per cent.). I n the Campagna, on
the other hand, the proportion is only 88 per cent, of the workers.
Among those working more than 48 hours a week 3.2 per cent.
of the workers have a working week of 48 to 60 hours, and about
9 per cent, one of more than 60 hours. The latter are almost all
employed in the engineering industry.
At a meeting of the Fascist Metal Workers' Union of Milan, held
i n August 1923, a resolution was passed demanding the amendment
of the regulations adopted in 1919 and 1920 in agreement with the
Socialist union.
T E X T I L E INDUSTRY

The textile industry was the first in Italy to regulate hours of
work by agreement. During 1920 the new hours of work were laid
•down in national agreements for most of the textile industries :
cotton, silk spinning, wool, jute, linen and hemp, dyeing. In
the case of silk weaving alone regulations are limited to the most
important weaving district, that of Como (30,000 workers). There

— 20 —
h a s been n o m a r k e d s u b s e q u e n t c h a n g e in t h e p r o v i s i o n s t h u s
adopted.
T h e collective a g r e e m e n t s i n q u e s t i o n were concluded w i t h t h e
t w o t e x t i l e w o r k e r s ' o r g a n i s a t i o n s : t h e Federazione
italiana
operai
tessili (Socialist) a n d t h e Sindacato italiana tessili (Christian).
Cotton
1,694 (x)

N u m b e r of u n d e r t a k i n g s
N u m b e r of w o r k e r s :
Lombardy
Piedmont
Other districts

134,083
52,715
26,107
Total

212,905

N a t i o n a l a g r e e m e n t of 7 April 1920.
T h e c o t t o n i n d u s t r y h a s t h e largest o u t p u t a n d e m p l o y s t h e
l a r g e s t n u m b e r of w o r k e r s a m o n g I t a l i a n e x p o r t i n d u s t r i e s . Before
t h e w a r t h e w o r k i n g week w a s a b o u t 63 t o 64 % h o u r s . T h e 4 8 - h o u r
w e e k w a s i n t r o d u c e d b y t h e n a t i o n a l collective a g r e e m e n t of
7 A p r i l 1920, w h i c h h a s since b e e n cancelled, a l t h o u g h a s u b s e q u e n t
a g r e e m e n t of 12 F e b r u a r y 1921 a n d o t h e r s of A u g u s t a n d S e p t e m b e r
1921 h a v e m a i n t a i n e d t h e p r o v i s i o n s r e l a t i n g t o h o u r s of w o r k .
T h e a g r e e m e n t of 7 April 1920 c o n t a i n e d t h e following p r o v i sions.
Hours

of

Work

T h e principle of t h e 4 8 - h o u r week is laid d o w n a n d provision
m a d e for t h e S a t u r d a y half-holiday.
The working week shall consist of 48 hours, these hours to be
distributed over six days of the week a t the rate of 8 per day.
If the management considers it preferable, the normal 8-hour day
may be extended during the first five days of the week in order to give
the workers a half-holiday on Saturday. I n this case the hours worked
on the first five days of the week should be increased so as to provide
a weekly total of 48 hours of actual work. Work on Saturday shall b e
performed without a break. The hours of work on the first five days
of the week shall not be incresaed by more than 45 minutes.
Hours of actual work shall be interpreted to mean hours which t h e
worker must assign wholly to work. They shall be calculated from the
moment a t which the worker reaches his place ready to commence
work until the signal to stop work is given. In order to facilitate this,
the doors of the establishment shall be closed five minutes before the
time a t which work shall begin. Workers arriving after the doors are
closed shall be considered to be late.
Machinery shall be cleaned during working hours.
T h e n u m b e r of h o u r s of a c t u a l w o r k p e r y e a r a r e fixed a t 2,400.
(*) ASSOCIAZIONE COTONIERA ITALIANA : Note sull'andamento

stria Cotoneria in Italia. By Eugenio CECCONI.

Milan, 1922.

dell'Indu-

— 21 —

Two-Shift System
The shift system, a question which has increased in importance
for manufacturers as a result of the introduction of the 8-hour day,
is the subject of detailed provisions. When the agreement was
drawn up, it gave rise to long discussion. The text finally adopted
was as follows :
While observing that the workers' organisations are opposed in
principle to the two-shift system, and that they only consent to its
continuance where it has already been established by agreement and
where it is necessary either in order to prevent unemployment or for
technical reasons, the contracting parties agree that work in two
shifts shall be carried out on a schedule under which each shift shall
work 7 y2 hours.

The agreement includes in the 7 r/2 hours a half-hour break, t o
be taken if possible outside the place of work and in any case after
the machinery has been stopped.
The agreement also provides that overtime shall not be worked
when the two-shift system is in force. When it is necessary t o
secure continuity of work, however, overtime may be allowed, but
only for men.
Overtime
The agreement states t h a t overtime must be exceptional a n d
temporary. Overtime is taken to mean all work done outside
normal working hours or on days recognised as public holidays.
Overtime is prohibited on Saturdays, except for workers employed
on special work.
The maximum overtime is fixed at 6 hours per week and may
in no case be exceeded for the main body of the workers. Overtime
for workers employed on special work is, however, not limited t o
6 hours per week. If such special work necessitates a different
distribution of working hours from that for other workers and is
paid at fixed rates, work done outside special hours is considered
as overtime. The agreement fixes the additional payment for
overtime at 40 per cent, of the normal daily wage, including costof-living bonus. Overtime on holidays and - Sundays is paid at a n
increase of 80 per cent.
Silk
Undertakings (spinning, twisting, weaving, etc.) (x) :
Lombardy
1,329
Venetia
220
Piedmont
166
The Marches
159
Tuscany
106
Other districts
101
Total
(>) Italian Statistical Year Book, 1917-1918.

2,081

— 22 —

Number of workers : Spinning 82,455 (1)
Weaving 50,000 (approximately) (2)
The silk industry is the leading Italian export industry judged
by the value of its products. The main competitors of the silk
spinning industry are the countries of the Far East—China and

Japan.

The hours of work in the silk industry were reduced as follows :
Silk Spinning (filande) and Twisting (filatoi)
National agreement of September 1921.
During 1919 the 8-hour day was introduced in a number of
silk-spinning mills situated in different parts of Italy—Piedmont,
Lombardy, the Campagna, Venetia, Emilia, the Marches—on the
basis of an annual average number of working days ranging between 230 and 345, generally 280 or 300.
In December 1920 a national agreement was concluded between
the Silk Manufacturers' Union (Unione industriali sereci) and two
workers' unions. The agreement did not, properly speaking, fix
hours of work but merely fixed wages on the basis of 8 hours'
actual work a day. The agreement also laid down that the increase
in pay for overtime should be 40 per cent. The agreement was
renewed in September 1921 but in its new form contains no provisions on overtime pay. The same applies to the agreement of
1 February 1922. At the end of that year the trade unions became
anxious about the amount of overtime worked in certain spinning
mills and desired to regulate hours of work effectively by means
of an agreement. So far the manufacturers' association has declined
to do so.
Silk Weaving
Como agreement of 25 March 1923.
The 48-hour week was introduced in silk-weaving mills in May
1919. In order to prevent an excessive reduction in hours of work
it was decided that a certain number of days formerly regarded as
holidays should no longer be conceded and that making up lost
time should be compulsory, while in certain localities holidays
other than those fixed in the collective agreement would be
recognised.
The new hours of work were regulated by the agreement of
April 1920 concluded between the Association of Silk Manufacturers
(Associazione tra i fabbricanti di seterie) and the two workers'
«nions. The provisions of the agreement as to hours of work, the
(*) Average number of workers employed during the 1913-1914 season
(Italian Statistical Year Book, 1917-1918).
(a) Report by Com. E. ROSASCO on the situation in the silk-weaving
industry in Italy at the end of 1921 ; published by the Associazione italiana
tra i fabbricanti di seterie.

— 23 —

two-shift system, and overtime are the same as those in the cotton
agreement. Provision is, however, made for an increase in remuneration for two-shift work, fixed at 5 per cent.
The agreements of February 1921 reproduce in the main the
provisions of the 1920 agreement. No reference is, however, made
to the 48-hour week but only to the annual average of 2,400 hours.
The recent agreement of 25 March 1923 withdraws the increase
of 5 per cent, payable for work on the two-shift system. I t appears
further that the agreement limits the regulation of working hours
to weaving mills in the towns and no longer applies to those in
the country.
Wool
Number of undertakings (x) :
Piedmont
Tuscany
Lombardy
Venetia
Other districts

299
155
77
57
212
Total

Number of workers :

800

65,623

National collective agreement of 17 July 1920.
The regulation of hours of work laid down in this agreement was
maintained in the subsequent agreements of February 1921 and
December 1921. The local collective agreements which were
concluded at the end of 1921 and during 1922 for the regions of
Vicenza (Venetia) and Biella (Piedmont) relate only to wages.
The national agreement for the woollen industry simply fixes
the hours of actual work at 2,400 per annum, or 8 hours a day on
300 working days. It stipulates that where the two-shift system
is in force the hours of actual work of each shift must be 7 %,
and do not include a half-hour break as in the cotton agreement.
The agreement adds that for work on the two-shift system the
wages of piece workers are to be increased by 10 per cent, of the
normal wage for 8 hours' work.
The woollen agreement does not fix the maximum amount of
overtime but merely lays down that overtime shall not be allowed
unless there is no unemployment in the branch of the trade for
which application for overtime is made. The increase in pay for
overtime is fixed, as in the other agreements, at 40 per cent.
The agreement for the Prato district (Tuscany) of 17 November
1921, concluded with an independent organisation, reduces the
(') COMMISSIONI

D'INDAGINE

SULLA

CONDIZIONI

DELLA

INDUSTRIE ;

INDUSTRIA LANERÍA : Sessioni 21-25 febbraio 1922, p. 33. Rome, 1922.
The figures are taken from the Annuario statistico LocatelU, which gives t h e
position for 1916-1918.

— 24 —

increase payable for work on the two-shift system from 10 per cent.
to 7 per cent., and fixes the increase in pay for the first two hours
of overtime at 25 per cent.
Linen, Hemp,
Number ot workers :
Linen and hemp
Jute

Jute

17,443 (June 1920) (*)
12,000-18,000 (2)

National agreements for the linen and hemp industry, dated
3 February 1920 (Socialist union) and 10 May 1920 (Christian
union).
National agreement for the jute industry, dated 3 February 1920.
The provisions of the linen and hemp agreements on hours
of work and the two-shift system and overtime are similar to
those of the cotton agreement. There has been no modification
in the provisions of the 1920 agreements.
The 1920 agreement for the jute industry contains also similar
regulations to those in the agreement for the cotton industry. The
new agreement for the jute industry of 7 July 1922, which is to
remain in force until 30 June 1924, simply reproduces the provisions
of the 1920 agreement as far as hours of work are concerned.
Ribbons and Dyeing
Collective agreement for the ribbon industry in the Milan, Monza,
and Lake Maggiore districts, dated 2 February 1922.
The agreement for the ribbon industry for the Milan, Monza,
and Lake Maggiore districts, dated 23 July 1919, fixed the working
week at 48 hours, the maximum amount of overtime per week at
6 hours (excluding Saturdays), the increase of pay for overtime at
40 per cent, and for work on holidays at 100 per cent. The new
agreement of 2 February 1922, which remains in force until 31
December 1923 and was concluded with both the Socialist and
Christian trade unions, introduced an annual average of 2,400 hours,
to be distributed on the basis of 48 hours a week. The maximum
amount of overtime was increased from 6 to 8 hours.
National collective agreement for dyeing and finishing textiles and
silk printing, dated 7 April 1923.
The national collective agreement for dyeing and finishing
textiles and silk printing, dated 25 December 1921, fixed the work{*) Bollettino del Lavoro, July 1922. The statistics are not complete but
cover from 65 per cent, to 86 per cent, of all the workers employed.
(2) Relazione delle Commissioni sul disegno di legge, che approve la nuova
tariffa generale dei dazi doganali ; Atti parlamentari. Rome, 1923.

ing week at 48 hours with a Saturday half-holiday and the increase
-of pay for overtime at 33 per cent., the amount of overtime to be
limited to 6 hours a week. This agreement was cancelled at the end
of 1922. The new agreement of 7 April 1923, which remains in
force for an indefinite period and may be cancelled on two months'
notice, increased the maximum amount of overtime from 8 to 10
hours and reduced the increase of pay for overtime to 30 per cent.
On the whole the regulation of hours of work as established by
the national collective agreements of 1920 in most textile industries
have so far remained almost unchanged.
The provisions of the agreements analysed above may be
tabulated as follows :
Overtime

Hours
Industry

Cotton
Agreement of 7 April 1920

Silk
(a) Spinning :
Agreement of 1 February 1922
(b) Weaving (Como) :
Agreement of 25 March 1923

Per
day

8

Per
Per
week annum

Increase, in pay

Weekly
maximum

48

2,400 40 per cent, on
working days ;
80 per cent, on
holidays

6

—

2,400 40 per cent, on
working days ;
80 per cent, on
holidays

6

8

Wool
Agreement of 17 July 1920

—-

—

2,400

Linen and Hemp :
Agreement of 3 February 1920

8

48

6

Jute
Agreement of 7 July 1922

8

48

2,400 40 per cent, on
working days ;
80 per cent, on
holidays
2,400 40 per cent, on
working days ;
80 per cent, on
holidays
2,400

8

Ribbons
Agreement of 2 February 1922
(Milan, Lake Maggiore)
Dyeing, silk printing
Agreement of 7 April 1923

48

48

40 per cent.

40 per cent, on
working days ;
100 per cent.
on holidays
30 per cent.

—

6

10

The situation in the Italian textile industry appears to have
changed since the middle of 1923.

— 26 —

An agreement recently concluded between the Federation of
Piedmontese Fascisti Unions, and the Piedmontese Association of
the Textile Industry (Associazione Piemontese industrie
tessili),
which came into force on 1 June 1923, amended the overtime
provisions of the special agreement for the Piedmont cotton
industry of 6 April 1921 (concluded on the basis of the national
agreement of 7 April 1920-12 February 1921). The increased
pay for overtime is now 25 per cent., and for Sunday work 50
per cent., of total wages.
Under the agreement of 6 April 1921 the increase for overtime
on working days was 40 per cent, and on holidays 80 per cent.,
but, although by the agreement these increases were payable in
respect of the worker's total wages, in practice the Fascisti federation maintained that they were calculated on actual wages exclusive
of cost-of-living bonuses.
The Fascisti trade union of the Novara district in Piedmont,
one of the most important centres of the Italian cotton industry,.
denounced the national agreement of 7 April 1920-12 February 1921
in August 1923, and is preparing to negotiate with the employers'
organisation for a separate agreement.
WOOD-WORKING

INDUSTRY

Lombardy. Agreement of 11 June 1920, concluded between the
Association of Italian Wood-Working and Allied Manufacturers
(Associazione italiana industriale del legno e affini) and the
Italian Federation of Wood Workers (Federazione
italiana
lavoranti in legno).
Number of workers : about 25,000.
The collective agreement for the wood-working industry in
Lombardy, dated 11 June 1920, introduces a 48-hour week, these
hours to be so distributed as to give the workers, especially those
living in towns, a Saturday half-holiday.
The regulations for workers in the wood industry, together
with the collective agreement, provide that workers may not object
to the establishment of day shifts. The hours of each shift are to
be fixed by agreement between the workers and the management
of the undertaking.
Overtime may be worked in exceptional cases and is paid at
the following increases on the total wage : 25 per cent, for the first
2 hours' overtime on working days ; 50 per cent, for hours worked
beyond these on working days and for all overtime on holidays.
The worker cannot be required to do more than 10 hours'
overtime per week, excluding Saturday.
These provisions were retained in the agreements of 1921,
1922, and 1923 (the 1923 agreement remains in force until 30 J u n e
1924).
At the congress of the Italian Confederation of Wood Workers
held in April 1922 a resolution was carried demanding that the

— 27 —

Lombardy agreement should be adopted as a model for other
local agreements. Agreements have been concluded in various
•districts on the basis of the Milan agreement.
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

Number of undertakings : 430 (x)
Number of workers :
7,500
National collective agreement of 20 November 1920 (of indefinite
duration, may be cancelled on three months' notice).
Regulations of 20 November 1922.
The national agreement for the chemical industry of 20 November 1920" established a working week of 48 hours of actual
work. The provisions for hours in continuous-process industries
are the same as those in the iron and steel regulations.
The overtime regulations contained in the 1920 agreement
were considerably altered by the new regulations issued on 20
November 1922. According to these regulations :
No worker may refuse without valid reason to work outside normal
working hours and to perform up to 10 hours' overtime in the week. In
continuous-process industries in which the shift system is in force,
members of each shift must take it in turns to work the overtime
needed for the regular working of the undertaking, in accordance with
the exigencies of continuity, supervision, and preparatory work. In
urgent cases which admit of no postponement, no worker may refuse
without valid reason to perform the exceptional work required of him.

The increase in pay for overtime to be added to normal wages
is as follows :
For the first two hours
For the three following hours
For subsequent hours

Working days
Per cent.

Holidays
Per cent.

Night work
Per cent.

5
15
40

10
30
80

15
40
100

Night work is taken to be work performed between 8 p.m. and
=6 a.m. from 1 October to 31 March, and between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m
from 1 April to 30 September.
No increase is payable for work performed on Sundays or other
holidays if the workers are entitled to a compensatory rest period.
GLASS INDUSTRY

Number of workers : 25,000 to 30,000 (a)
(x)
lariffa
(2)
tariffa

Relazioni della Commissioni sul disegno di legge che approva la nuova
generale dei dazi doganali ; Atti parlamentari, p. 378. Rome, 1923.
Relazioni della Commissioni sul disegno di legge che approva la nuova
generale dei dazi doganali ; Atti parlamentari, p. 378, Rome, 1923.

— 28 —

Crystal Glass and Mirrors
National collective agreement of 30 July 1920 concluded between
the Italian Federation of Glass, Crystal, and Mirror Manufacturers (Federazione italiana industriali vetri, cristalli, e specchi),
and the National Federation of Workers in the Mirror and Allied
Trades (Federazione nazionale lavoranti in specchi ed affini).
According to this agreement hours of actual work are 48 in
the week for all grades of workers in the undertakings. The employers, in agreement with the works committee, must organise
the distribution of the 48 hours over the week, taking into account
the special requirements of the undertaking and the need for
allowing the workers a free Saturday afternoon. The hours of work
lost during the week, except on holidays, may be made up during
the following month after agreement between the management of
the undertaking and the works committee and examination of
each individual case.
These provisions were retained in the agreement of 4 September
1922. Overtime pay for the first 2 hours was, however, altered;
the increase is 25 per cent, (instead of 30 per cent.) of total
wages on ordinary working days ; the increase of 50 per cent, for
subsequent hours and for holiday work is maintained.
The agreement of September 1923 merely reproduces the provisions of the 1922 agreement as far as hours of work are concerned.
FOOD INDUSTRY

Milling
Turin. Agreement of 17 April 1923 concluded with the Fascisti
organisation and valid until 31 December 1923.
The working day is fixed at 8 hours of actual work. This means
that the worker must be ready to start work when the signal for
starting is given and must not leave before the signal for stopping
has been given. A 9-hour day is considered advisable for regular
work in the mills. The ninth hour therefore counts as overtime
and is paid for at 15 per cent, above ordinary rates.
The increase in pay for holiday work is 30 per cent, in the
morning and 50 per cent, in the afternoon.
Pastrymaking
Turin. Agreement of 1 March 1923 concluded with the Fascisti
organisation.
This agreement covers small and medium-sized firms (i.e. those
employing not more than 150 workers). The working day is fixed
at 8 hours of actual work.
Work performed in excess of 48 hours in the week is regarded
as overtime and paid at a rate increased by 30 per cent. The

— 29 —

increase in pay for night work (between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.) and
holiday work is 60 per cent. These regulations will be withdrawn
if the subject is dealt with by legislation.
Sugar

Factories

National regulations of 1923, established in agreement with t h e
Fascisti organisation.
The regulations for the sugar industry drawn up in 1923 in
agreement with the Fascisti organisation fix hours of work as
follows :
The normal working day is fixed at 8 hours of actual work, the
week at 48 hours, to be distributed over the weekdays. For work
involving continuous processes, or which must be performed on
seven days in the week, the total number of hours in three consecutive weeks is 144, so that the number in the respective weeks may
be 56, 48, and 40. During the beetroot season work is continued
on seven consecutive days.
In urgent cases no worker may refuse without valid reason t o
work overtime. The increase in pay for overtime is 20 per cent.
for the first 2 hours and 35 per cent, for subsequent hours.
Work on Sundays and public holidays is considered as overtime
for workers not regularly employed.
BUILDING INDUSTRY

The national collective agreement of March 1919 for the building
industry was denounced by the employer's federation (Federazione
nazionale costructori edili) in December 1921. This agreement fixed
the working day at 8 hours ; making up of time lost through bad
weather was optional. The employers' federation demanded that
when a new agreement was concluded the total annual hours of
work should be 2,496, so as to make allowance for hours lost
through bad weather. This suggestion was rejected by the workers
on the ground that—
Statistics, and in particular a calculation based on the pay-rolls of
co-operative societies, had shown that the average number of working
days of workers employed in the open air (representing the great
majority of the organisation) was 220 in the year, and 230 in years
of heavy pressure, correspondingJ to a daily average of 8 hours and an
annual average of 1,840 hours ( ).

The two parties were unable to reach an agreement and t h e
rupture of negotiations was followed by a strike of several months.
No fresh national agreement was concluded, but the strike was
ended by individual agreements.
As soon as the Decree of 15 March 1923 was issued, the Federation of Building Employers submitted a memorandum to the
(J) Statement by the secretary of the Federation of Italian Building
Workers.

— 30 —

Government in which it described the situation of the Italian
building industry created by the application of the principle of the
8-hour day. It again emphasised the seasonal character of the
industry, especially in northern Italy, where building activity is
confined to the period from March to November. In the three
winter months work must be stopped on account of frost. The
Federation therefore demanded t h a t the regulations for the administration of the Decree should allow for this seasonal character.
At its congress of 19 April the Federation further defined'its
point of view and demanded that it should be permissible : (1) to
exceed the working day of 8 hours and working week of 48 hours
b y averaging hours of work over the year ; (2) to make up hours
lost through bad weather without having to observe unnecessary
formalities ; (3) in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 of
the Decree, to establish an agreement between the parties concerned defining the maximum of average hours of work if the
normal maximum hours of work are established over a period
longer than a week (*).
In reply to this memorandum the Italian Federation of Building
Workers in its turn submitted a statement to the Minister of Labour
at the beginning of April describing the present position as established by local collective agreements. In order to make allowance
for the seasonal nature of the industry, most of the agreements
stipulate that in compensation for a reduction of one hour a day
•during the months of January and December the working day
«hall be extended by one hour during the two summer months,
Most of the agreements accept the principle of making up lost time,
but lay down that such making up can only take place within a
specified period (a fortnight) and must not exceed 5 hours a week,
excluding Saturdays, and only during the three winter months.
The statement continues that to alter these provisions in the
direction demanded by the memorandum of the employers' federation would be in contradiction with the spirit of the Decree, which,
while admitting in exceptional cases that hours of work may be
extended by agreement between the parties, does not specifically
exclude building workers from the benefit of the 8-hour day.
The extent to which the new regulations have met the
demands of the employers' federation will have appeared from the
analysis given in the first section of the legal definition of
actual work, the right to exceed the normal daily and weekly
maximum, and temporary exceptions.
Since the beginning of 1923 most of the agreements have been
concluded between employers' organisations and Fascisti trade
unions, and have altered some of the provisions contained in the
«arlier agreements. The following table summarises the provisions
of the more important agreements.
(x) The Federation renewed its demands in a memorandum in August
1923.

Region
and agreement

Hours of work

Overtime pay
(per cent.)

Making up lost
time

Lombardy
Milan, Jan. 1923, ex Dec. and Jan. . v
piling 31 Mar. 1925 June and July . 9
Other months. . 8
Monza, 4 Apr. 1923, Dec. and Jan. . 7 First 2 hours . . . . 25
expiring 15 Feb
Following hours. . 70
1924, but may be May and June . Holidays and night
Other
months.
.
8
prolonged by agreework
70
ment until 17 Feb. (As an exception, (overtime
includes
1925 (1,000 work
to make up lost work performed out
ers).
time, from 2 to side normal work
15 July 1923, 9 ing hours and in
making up lost time)
hours).
Gallarate, 9 Apr. Nov. D e c , Jan., 20 (overtime includes
work performed
1923 (regulations
7 outside
normal
established by the Feb
employers' organ- Mar., Apr., Sept.,
working hours and
8 in making up lost
isation, agreement Oct
not renewed).
May, June, July, time)
Province of Cremona Aug
9 Working days . . . 25 Time lost through
Mar. 1923, expiring Nov., D e c , Jan. 7 Holidays and night bad weather or
28 Feb. 1925 (Fas May, June, July 9 work
70 force majeure to
cisti organisation) Other months . (overtime limited to be made up from
fortnight to
6 hours per week)
fortnight.
Province of Brescia, D e c , Jan
6 Working days . . . 10 Time lost to be
16 Apr. 1923, ex Feb., Nov
7 Holidays and night made up, subto
the
piring 31 Mar. 1.924 Mar., Apr., Sept.
work
70 ject
maximum of 48
(Fascisti organisa
(overtime
limited
to
Oct
Í
hours per week
tion).
Other months. . 9 12 hours per week) and 9 hours per
(from Nov. to Feb.
day.
8 hours may be
worked at normal wage rates,
weather permitting)
Piedmont
D e c , Jan., Feb. 7 Working days . . . 30
21 Apr. 1923, expir- Mar., Sept., Oct., Holidays and night
ing 31 Mar. 1926 Nov
work
100
(Fascisti Organisa- Other months. . 9 maximum
working
tion) .
(subject to further day 10 hours)
negotiations)
Emilia
Province of Bologna, Nov., D e c , Jan.,
31 Mar. 1923, ex- Feb
7
piring 31 Oct. 1924 Mar., Apr., Sept.,
(Fascisti organisa
Oct
8
tion).
May, June, July,
9 Working days
Province of Reggio Aug
. 30
Emilia, 1 Apr. 1923 Nov., D e c , Jan. Holidays . . . . . 75
expiring 28 Feb. Feb
7 Night work. . .
100
1924 (Fascisti org- Mar., Apr., Sept.,
anisation).
Oct
g
May, June, July,
Venetia Julia
Aug
9 First 2 hours . . . . 25 Time lost through
16 Aug. 1923, gen
8 3 next hours
eral part expiring
50 bad weather to
up
31 Dec. 1925 (FasOther hours
75 be made
cisti organisation).
(overtime limited to from fortnight
12 hours per week) to fortnight, sub
ject to a maximum of 6 hours
per week.

— 32 —
P A P E R INDUSTRY

The national collective agreement of 27 April 1920 for the paper
industry, concluded by the Association of Paper Manufacturers
and the Federation of Bookbinders and Paper Workers, fixes the
working day at 8 hours of actual work. Machinery must be
cleaned during ordinary working hours. The arrangement of hours
for workers employed on continuous processes must be determined
by agreement between the management of the factory and the
workers' committee.
No worker can-refuse to work overtime up to a maximum of
12 hours per week. Overtime entitles the worker to an addition to
his wage of 50 per cent. Overtime on holidays is paid at an increase
•of 60 per cent, for the first 4 hours and 100 per cent, for all subsequent hours.
The agreement was denounced on 17 April 1922, and this was
followed by the conclusion of local agreements (Rome, Milan, Turin,
Florence, etc.) on the basis of the 8-hour day.
Paper Goods
An agreement concluded in May 1923 between the Tuscan
Paper Goods Factory ( Stabilimente Toscano per la lavorazione della
carta) and the Federation of Bookbinders and Paper Workers
(Federazione italiana legatori, cartai, cartotecnici ed affini), for
a n indefinite period (at least until 15 January 1925), fixes the
normal working week at 48 hours' actual work. No worker may
refuse without valid reason to work in excess of normal hours u p
to a maximum of 10 hours' overtime in the week. The increase
in pay for work on Sundays and holidays is 50 per cent, of total
wages for the first 8 hours and 100 per cent, for subsequent hours.
PRINTING AND A L L I E D TRADES

Number of undertakings : 894
Number of workers (November 1921) : 23,174 (*)
Lombardy

(Milan)

•Collective agreement of 7 November 1919 for
expiring end of October 1923—700 workers.

lithographers,

Collective agreement of 12 December 1919 for process engravers,
expiring end of November 1923, but may be renewed from
year to year.
Collective agreement of 28 January 1921 for bookbinders, expiring
end of October 1923.
(l) Results of the investigation published in the Bollettino del Lavoro,
July 1922. It is pointed out that the figures are not complete and cover
mainly large and medium-sized undertakings.

— 33 —

These three agreements contain the following provisions :
If it is to the economic advantage of workers and employers, the
employers may organise shifts of unemployed, except for draughtsmen, colour printers, and stone etchers. Workers on these shifts
are paid at the ordinary daily rate. The first shift should work
7 hours, the second 6.
The maximum overtime for the printing trades of Milan is
as^follows :
2 hours per day (6 hours per week) for bookbinders ;
200 » per year for process engravers ;
24 » per month for draughtsmen, colour printers, and
stone etchers ;
3 » per week for compositors, stereotypere, and machine
minders ;
125 » per year (5 hours per week) for lithographers ;
100 » per year (5 hours per week) for lithographers working
on rotary machines.
Overtime is paid at the following increases on ordinary rates :
Working days :
Process engravers : 25 per cent, after the first 2 hours' overtime.
Lithographers, compositors, stereotypere, and machine minders :
50 per cent.
Bookbinders : 50 per cent, for first 6 hours' overtime per week,
80 per cent, for hours beyond 6.
Holidays :
Process engravers : 25 per cent.
Lithographers : 50 per cent.
Bookbinders, compositors, stereotypere, and machine minders :
80 per cent.
Province of Bergamo
Agreement of 5 October 1921 (expiring October 1923).
The working day is fixed at 8 hours. For machine work organised
on the three-shift system, the hours of the first shift are 8, of the
second and third shifts 7. The maximum overtime allowed is
5 hours a week and is paid for at an increase of 50 per cent, on
ordinary wages.
Piedmont

(Turin)

Agreement of 24 February 1921 (expiring end of 1923).
The working day is 8 hours and the maximum overtime allowed
is 6 hours for machine compositors and 8 hours for other work-

— 34 —

ers. The increase in pay for overtime is 40 per cent., on Sunday
morning 75 per cent., and on the afternoons of holidays and the
period between 12 p.m. and 6 a.m. on working days 100 per cent.
Province of Alessandria
Agreement of 24 February 1922 between the Industriale grafici
di Alessandria on the one side and the Federazione italiana
lavoratori del libro, the Federazione legatori e cartai, and the
Federazione litografi on the other, expiring at the end of December 1923.
The agreement fixes hours of work at 8 per day and 48 per week,
and limits overtime to 8 hours per week. The increase in pay for
overtime is 40 per cent, on normal wages, 75 per cent, for work on
the mornings of Sunday and holidays, and 100 per cent, for work
between 12 p.m. and 6 a.m. on weekdays or the afternoons of
holidays.
Venetia
Collective agreement in force for 1923 and 1924.
Overtime is to be paid as follows : 30 per cent, increase for the
first three hours ; 60 per cent, for subsequent hours and for work
on holidays. Overtime is allowed only in exceptional cases.
The agreement lays down that overtime is to be worked by
unemployed workers if the technical requirements of the undertaking allow. If, however, for exceptional reasons the employer
guarantees in advance that a minimum of 6 hours' overtime in the
week be worked by a whole shift for a period of not less than 4
weeks, the increase in pay is 10 per cent.
Caserta
Agreement of 20 March 1920 (expired 25 March 1922).
Hours of work are fixed at 8 in the day. The maximum amount
of overtime is 6 hours per week and 12 hours per week for machine
minders. The increase in pay for overtime is 25 per cent, for the
first 2 hours, 40 per cent, for subsequent hours, and 100 per cent.
for Sundays.
Bari
Agreement of 1 November 1920, expiring 30 October 1923.
The working day is fixed at 8 hours. The maximum amount
of overtime is 12 hours per week for compositors and 18 hours for
machine minders. The increased pay for overtime is 33 per cent.
for the first 4 hours, 50 per cent, for the next 2 hours, and 100 per
cent, for hours beyond this.