Relazioni industriali e servizi di cura: frammentazione degli attori e della contrattazione tra pubblico e privato

Over the past decades, welfare services in Europe have undergone a series of profound transformations. The need for public administrations to satisfy a growing demand for care services with very limited available resources, especially after the 2008-09 economic crisis, intensified the processes of outsourcing of these services to private providers. In this context, employment relations and working conditions have suffered from considerable pressure in order to reduce labour costs and increase the flexibility in the management of the workforce. This essay aims at providing a picture of employment relations in the welfare services, such as education, health and social care, in Italy. The analysis will particularly focus on the main trajectories of transformation that these services have experienced over the last decade, the fragmentation of the actors involved in the industrial relations arena as well as on the related trends and critical issues emerging in collective bargaining.