Since the beginning of the new millennium, numerous studies have examined trends in trade union membership and the relationship of the trade unions to a ‘new’ labor market comprising new categories of workers and new forms of employment. Changes in this market over the last 20 years have weakened trade unions, and several important studies of trade union membership have noted that trade union action is concentrated excessively on traditional workers. The main aim of this paper is to examine the strategies of trade unions like CGIL and to identify those methods and goals of good practice for representation which led to dedicated collective bargaining for ‘atypical’ workers. The birth of CGIL affiliate NIdiL in 1998 was an innovative step for the unions in their goal of improving working conditions and encouraging procedures for the stabilization of temporary workers through the redefinition of the concept of trade union representation.
Keywords: Job insecurity, trade union representation, inclusive approach to collective bargaining, individualization