Abstract

This short presentation copes with the necessities of change that are now challenging the Italian system of industrial relations. The focus is the collective bargaining structure. Every proposal of change has to be carried out taking into account the natural by-partisan character of the main themes of industrial relations, following the famous principle that "it takes two to tango!". In this direction it might be necessary a (more or less) soft restyling of the basic agreement ("Protocollo") of July 1993: a very important agreement that allowed an efficient (for many aspects) functioning of the bargaining relations in the Italian system. In this process of change it could be useful to discover a larger room for the decentralization of bargaining activities. Also the instrument of the opening clauses, controlled by the centre, could be implemented following the policy recommendations of the Giugni commission of 1998.