Chapter La professionalità dei lavoratori tra legge e contrattazione collettiva

Abstract

The essay addresses the traditional yet very relevant topic of protecting workers' professional skills, with particular attention to the intricate relationship between the two main sources: law and collective bargaining. The latter is considered a fundamental "filter" for balancing the protection of professional skills between guarantees for the worker and organizational dynamism. Reexamining the relationship between the two sources from a historical-critical perspective in light of the text of Article 2103 of the Civil Code, revised in 2015, the author argues that the current framework effectively weakens the role of collective bargaining. Instead, it expands both the boundaries of the legal category of the worker and the scope of professional skills as a object of the contract that must be protected according to civil law rules. These rules, it is clarified, cannot be interpreted in a way that reduces the protections afforded to workers compared to any other contracting party, nor to bend labor law to notions of professionalism derived from other scientific approaches. The systemic limit arising from the classification of professionalism as an essential element of the contract (object) also applies to collective bargaining. However, the author ultimately believes that professionalism is a common good for both the worker and the organization and, as such, should be protected through more modern approaches and techniques, such as those found in recent legislation aimed at overcoming the gender pay gap.