TRIESTE – The main associations representing port companies will take to the streets alongside trade unions to demand the implementation of the early-retirement fund for dockworkers, provided for years but never made operational.
The four organisations representing companies – Ancip, Assiterminal, Assologistica and Uniport – will take part with a delegation in the demonstration called for tomorrow, 1 December, in Rome by Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti. It is an unusual step for employers’ associations, choosing to stand with unions on an issue considered strategic for the sector.
The early-retirement fund is set out in a provision agreed between the parties and included in the previous renewal of the national contract, in force since 2021 but still not implemented. According to the associations, it is a necessary tool to manage generational turnover in a sector undergoing profound transformation, with new professional profiles and activities requiring different skills.
Companies argue that some port-related duties cannot be carried out until full pension requirements are met, due to the physical nature of the work. Hence the shared request with the unions to make the fund operational, also deemed helpful in ensuring an orderly transition in work organisation.
The associations note that the decision to demonstrate together with the unions does not erase existing divergences on other issues, such as the dispute over holiday allowances. On these matters, positions remain far apart. But they stress that when interests align and are expressed transparently, it is possible to act together within the framework of industrial relations.
