Abstract

The justice system, conceived in individualistic terms, has historically been a hostile terrain for the exercise of trade union action, especially when aimed at the protection of workers’ interests and rights. Since the end of the first decade of the 21st century, however, the situation seems to have gradually changed. The use by trade unions of traditional instruments such as Article 28 of the Statuto dei lavoratori as a means of collective self-defence has been complemented by new forms of action, including participation in the main criminal proceedings and experimentation with innovative instruments of collective legal protection in the technical sense, such as anti-discrimination actions, class actions for damages and injunctive relief. The authors reflect on the need to update the picture of the legal protection instruments offered by the legal system and to examine the current state of relations between trade unions and litigation in different strategic contexts and the possible implications for the very notions of collective interest and collective self-defence.