The Charter of Labour (Italy 1927)

Article 1

The Italian nation is an organism possessing a purpose, a life, and instruments of action superior to those possessed by the individuals who compose it. The nation is a moral, political, and economic unity integrally embodied in the Fascist State.

Article 2

Labour in all its manifestations, whether mental, technical, or manual, is a social duty. It is by virtue of this fact, and by virtue of this fact alone, that when labour falls within the purview of the State. When considered from a national point of view, production in its manifold forms constitutes a unity, its many objectives coinciding and being generally definable as the wellbeing of those who produce, and the development of national power.

Article 3

Organisation whether by trades or by syndicates is unrestricted, but only the syndicate legally recognised by the State and subject to State control is empowered:

• To legally represent the particular division of employers or employees for which it has been formed;

• To protect the interests of these as against the State or as against other trade organisations;

• To negotiate collective labour contracts binding upon all those engaged in the branch in question;

• To levy assessments and to exercise, in connection with the branch, specified functions of public support.

Article 4

The collective labour contract gives concrete expression to the common interest of the various elements of production (capital and labour) by reconciling conflicting interests of employees and subordinating these to the higher interests of production at large.

Article 5

The Labour Court is the organ through which the State acts in settling labour controversies, whether these arise in connection with observances of rules or agreements already made or in connection with new conditions to be fixed for labour.

Article 6

The trade associations legally recognised guarantee equality before the law to employers and employees alike. They maintain discipline in labour and production and promote measures of efficiency in both. The Corporations constitute the unifying organisation of the elements of production (capital and labour) and represent the common interests of them all. By virtue of this joint representation, and since the interests of production are the interests of the Nation, the Corporations are recognised by law as organs of the State.

Article 7

The Corporate State regards private initiative in the field of production as the most useful and efficient instruments for furthering the interests of the nation. Since private enterprise is a function of import to the nation, its management is responsible to the State for general policies of production. From the fact that the elements of production (labour and capital) are co-operators in a common enterprise, reciprocal rights and duties devolve upon them. The employee, whether labourer, clerk, or skilled workman, is an active partner in the economic enterprise, the management of which belongs to the employer who shoulders the responsibility for it.

Article 8

Trade associations of employers are under obligation to increase business, to improve quality of output, and to reduce costs in every possible way. The organizations representing practitioners of the liberal professions or of the arts, and the associations of State employees, work together for furthering the interests of science, letters, and the arts, for improving the quality of production, and for realising the moral ideals of the Corporate organisation of the State.

Article 9

The State intervenes in economic production only in cases where private initiative is lacking or insufficient, or where political interests of the State are involved. Such intervention may take the form of supervision, of promotion, or of direct management.

Article 10

In labour controversies involving groups, there can be no recourse to the Labour Court until the Corporation has exhausted its efforts for adjustment. In controversies involving individuals in connection with applications or interpretations of collective contracts, the trade associations are empowered to offer their mediation for settlements. Jurisdiction in such controversies belongs to the ordinary Labour Courts supplemented by the referees appointed by the trade associations concerned.

Article 11

The trade associations are required to regulate by collective contracts labour relations between the employers and the employees whom they represent. The collective contract is made between associations of primary grade, under the guidance and with the approval of the central organisations, with the provision that the association of higher grade may make amendments in cases specified in the constitutions of the associations or by law. All collective labour contracts must, under penalty of nullity, contain specific statements of the rules governing discipline, of trial periods, of the amounts and manner of payment of wages, of schedules of working hours.

Article 12

The operation of the syndicates, the mediation of the Corporations and the decisions of the Labour Court guarantee correspondence between wages and the normal demands of living, the possibilities of production and the yield from labour. The fixing of wages is withdrawn from any general rule and entrusted to agreements between parties in the collective contracts.

Article 13

Losses occasioned by business crises and by variations exchange must be equitably divided between the elements of production (capital and labour). Statistics relating to conditions of production and labour, to variations of exchange, to changes in standards of living, as issued by the various Governmental departments, by the central Bureau of Statistics and by the legally recognised trade associations, and as co-ordinated and elaborated by the Ministry of Corporations, will constitute the criteria for adjusting the interests of the various branches of trade, and of harmonising the interests of the various classes, with those of other classes, vis-à-vis of each other, and of the higher interests of production in general.

Article 14

When wages are paid on the basis of piece-work and payments are made at intervals greater than two weeks, suitable weekly of bi-weekly accountings must be furnished. Night work not comprised in regular periodical shifts must be paid for by some percentage in addition to the regular daily wage. When wages are based on piece-work, piece payments must be so fixed that the faithful worker of average productive ability may have a chance to earn a minimum in excess of the basic wage.

Article 15

The employee is entitled to a weekly holiday falling on Sundays. Collective contracts will apply this principle so far as it is compatible with existing laws, and with the technical requirements of the enterprise concerned; and within the same limits, they will aim to respect civil and religious solemnities in accord with local traditions. Working hours must be scrupulously and earnestly observed by employees.

Article 16

After a year of uninterrupted service, the employee in enterprises that function the year round is entitled to an annual vacation with wages.

Article 17

In concerns functioning throughout the year, the employee is entitled, in case of discharge through no fault of his own, to a compensation proportioned to his years of service. Similar compensation is likewise due in case of death.

Article 18

Transfers of ownership of concerns offering steady work do not affect labour contracts, and the employees of such concerns retain all their rights and claims against the new proprietors. Likewise the illness of an employee, not in excess of a specified duration, does not cancel the labour contract. Call to service in the Army or Navy or in the Fascist Militia (The Volunteer Militia for National Safety) does not constitute valid cause for dismissal.

Article 19

Infractions of discipline on the part of employees and acts disturbing to the normal functioning of a concern, are punished, according to the seriousness of the offence, by fine, by suspension, or in grave cases, by immediate discharge without compensation. The cases in which the employer may impose the respective penalties of fine, suspension, or discharge without compensation must be specified.

Article 20

The employee newly hired is subject to a trial period, during which there is a reciprocal right to cancel the labour contract, the employee in such case being entitled to wages only for the time of actual service.

Article 21

The collective labour contract extends its benefits and its discipline to home workers as well. Special regulations are to be promulgated by the State to assure proper hygienic condition for home labour.

Article 22

The State has exclusive power to determine and control the factors governing employment and unemployment, since these are indices of the general conditions of production and labour.

Article 23

Employment bureaus are to be managed by the Corporations through commissions having equal representation of employers and employees. Employers are required to practise selection among workers with right of choice among the various registrants, giving preference, however, to such as are members of the Fascist Party and of the Fascist syndicates, and to priority of registration.

Article 24

The trade associations of workers are required to practise selection among workers with a view to constant improvement in the technical skill and the moral character of personnel.

Article 25

The corporations must supervise the observance of the laws governing safety, accident prevention, and sanitation by the individuals subject to the central organisation of associations.

Article 26

Insurance is another manifestation of the principle of collaboration. Employers and employees must bear proportionate shares of such burdens. The State, working through the Corporations and the trade associations, will strive to co-ordinate and unify as far as possible the agencies and the system of insurance.

Article 27

The Fascist State is working:

• For improvements in accident insurance;

• For improvements and extensions of maternity insurance;

• For insurance against professional diseases and tuberculosis as a step toward general insurance against illness in general;

• For improvements in insurance on involuntary unemployment;

• For the adoption of special forms of endowment insurance for young workers.

Article 28

Protection of the interests of employees in legal and administrative problems arising in connection with accident and other forms of social insurance devolves upon the associations which represent them. Collective labour contracts will provide, where technically possible, for the establishment of mutual funds for insurance against illness, such funds to consist of contributions from employers and employees and to be administered by representatives of both classes under the general supervision of the Corporations.

Article 29

The trade associations have the right and the duty to provide relief for the workers they represent whether these be members or non-members. Such functions of relief must be exercised directly by committees of the associations themselves and must not be delegated to other institutions or Corporations save for purposes of a general character which transcend the Particular interests of the branch of production concerned.

Article 30

Training and education, especially technical training of the workers the represent, whether these be members or non-members, is one of the principle duties of the trade associations. The associations must lend their support to the national institutes which deal with recreation and free time, and to other enterprises of education.