Abstract

The author examines the results of collective bargaining on the public sector: these show how the local bargaining has produced very different and often negative outcomes as far as the efficiency of public administration is concerned; on the other hand, the outcome of collective bargaining at the national level has often been innovative. In the public sector and at the local level, therefore, it is not advisable to widen the room reserved to collective bargaining. In the public sector, it is rather necessary to strengthen the authority of the management, even through a reduction of the spaces reserved to trade unionism and to contract. Trade unions should be more available to contract pays systems that both enhance the importance of professional skills and favour workers mobility.