Abstract

Are trade unions and collective bargaining the tools of the old democracies today? The article faces this cyclical (not only in Italy) topic and analyses the essential functions that the legal system still entrusts to collective action, highlighting the relationship with a modern and inclusive democracy. The focus is on the nexus between trade union freedom and democracy in private and public sectors where some recent judgments of the Constitutional Court, which emphasize the need of new statutory provisions in this matter, are reported. It concludes by raising the doubt that the cyclical controversy is aimed more at undermining democracy than at grasping the real regulatory problems of industrial relations.