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This paper deals with arbitration clauses and class action waiver clauses inserted in consumer contract forms. Both clauses are deemed to be valid and enforceable in the Italian law system, although the decisions of the Corte di Cassazione consider the arbitration clause an unfair term, therefore null and void. Arbitration clause, indeed, is not an unfair term since it does not prevent the exercise of the jurisdiction according to article 33, section 2, letter t) of the Italian Consumer Code. Further, arbitration clause does not lead to a material unbalance of the contract according to article 33, section 1 of the Italian Consumer Code: as a matter of fact, arbitration clause does not restrict the rights of action of consumers, as they can recur to a class-wide suit, anyhow. In particular, consumer may recur to class arbitration suits. Similarly, neither class action waiver clause could be considered an unfair term according to article 33 of the Italian Consumer Code, since it does not refrain consumers from recurring to individual suits in order to enforce their rights. Furthermore, class action waiver clause does not lead to a material unbalance of the agreement, since Italian class action system is largely underexploited, yet. Comparative method has been crucial for the scope of work: on one hand, the study of the American model has inspired the work, since Federal Supreme Court already settled arbitration clause issue and class action waiver clause issue by four decisions issued within years 2009/2015. Indeed, the Supreme Court ruled for the validity and enforceability of these clauses, therefore, barring consumers from recurring to class action suits or class arbitration suits as well as to any kind of individual suit, since cost-benefit ratio is totally inefficient. On the other hand, the in-depth analysis of origins of class action in the common law systems revealed the real nature of Italian class action regulations adopted in 2009 and 2019. American class action provision currently in force, i.e. Rule 23 FRCP, is the outcome of principles of representative suit arising from centuries of case law. Indeed, procedural provisions disclaimed by Rule 23 FRCP, especially those regarding the certification phase, are provided in order to grant the plaintiff with a standing to sue in representation of the absent class members: class members which will be actually bound by the decision issued in the class action suit. In other words, procedural prescriptions become the source of the power of the plaintiff to sue in representation of the class. On the contrary, Italian class action regulations do not provide any representative power of the plaintiff, although American rules were the blueprint for the Italian legislator. Therefore, unlike Rule 23 FRCP, Italian class action reg-ulations, instead of being the source of power of the plaintiff to introduce a class action, are just procedural provisions adding to ordinary ones. Thus, the consumer has the right to freely use these special procedural devices and, therefore, consumers are free (i) to renounce to class action suit; or (ii) to adopt class action provisions in a class arbitration regulation.

The present dissertation work consists of 3 chapters. The first one focuses on the analysis of the role of collective bargaining within Community Law. The purpose is to assess whether it is suitable today to speak about an enhancement of "collective autonomy" within Community Law. If the new provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, acknowledging the autonomy of social partners, allow to compare the European systems which featuring the principle of "collective autonomy", their implementation will deny this conclusion. The weakness of collective bargaining has lead the single European systems to face the current economic crisis by adopting national reforms pursuing the objective of "flexicurity" spurred and supported by European Institutions. An alignment between different European systems of industrial relations has been observed as for the shared trend towards a decentralization of corporate contracts at company level, this particularly in the French and Italian systems. The second chapter, after a short description of the French system of relations professionnelles, will further focus on the analysis of the instruments employed by French Legislator to promote collective bargaining at company level. The lois Auroux breached the traditional system of relations professionnelles leading to a true earthquake first in 2004 and then in 2008. The point is the different way of conceiving the traditional hierarchy system of the sources with a change in the criteria ruling it, that are now identified in the principle of "subsidiarity". The unsatisfactory implementation of the reform lead the French legislator to a new intervention in 2008. The 2008 Law reached the point of making the convention de branche suppletive and abolished the hierarchic principle making the accord d'entreprise the new cornerstone of the system. The law also completely reshaped the Trade Union Law. The reform amended the legitimacy review of collective agreements but also amended the representativeness required for trade unions completely abolishing the ...

The present dissertation work consists of 3 chapters. The first one focuses on the analysis of the role of collective bargaining within Community Law. The purpose is to assess whether it is suitable today to speak about an enhancement of "collective autonomy" within Community Law. If the new provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, acknowledging the autonomy of social partners, allow to compare the European systems which featuring the principle of "collective autonomy", their implementation will deny this conclusion. The weakness of collective bargaining has lead the single European systems to face the current economic crisis by adopting national reforms pursuing the objective of "flexicurity" spurred and supported by European Institutions. An alignment between different European systems of industrial relations has been observed as for the shared trend towards a decentralization of corporate contracts at company level, this particularly in the French and Italian systems. The second chapter, after a short description of the French system of relations professionnelles, will further focus on the analysis of the instruments employed by French Legislator to promote collective bargaining at company level. The lois Auroux breached the traditional system of relations professionnelles leading to a true earthquake first in 2004 and then in 2008. The point is the different way of conceiving the traditional hierarchy system of the sources with a change in the criteria ruling it, that are now identified in the principle of "subsidiarity". The unsatisfactory implementation of the reform lead the French legislator to a new intervention in 2008. The 2008 Law reached the point of making the convention de branche suppletive and abolished the hierarchic principle making the accord d'entreprise the new cornerstone of the system. The law also completely reshaped the Trade Union Law. The reform amended the legitimacy review of collective agreements but also amended the representativeness required for trade unions completely abolishing the principle of assumption of representativeness. The 2008 Law engendering an actual promotion of the settlement of the accords d'entreprise, particularly in matter of employment. The final chapter, after a brief overview of the developments of Italian system of collective bargaining, will focus on the analysis of the instruments employed by the social partners in order to promote company agreements. The most relevant instrument has been identified in the "exit clauses" that, already used in the legal praxis, were first officially acknowledged only by the 2009 reform. The Framework-agreement of 22 January 2009 introduced the possibility of reaching "specific modifying agreements" occurring quite a wide number of conditions and cases, whereas the Interconfederal Agreement of 15 April 2009 introduced stricter criteria and limited its stipulation only to the regional local level. The "Fiat" case, first reached company agreements completely regardless of the new rules, made it urgent the need for a change of the trade union representation. On the matter, the Interconfederal Agreement of 28 June 2011 introduced the criteria of calculation of trade union representativeness on which the general effectiveness of company agreements is depending and which basically lead to the adoption of the majority principle. These criteria were re-asserted under art. 8 of law nr. 148/2011, which simply refers to a generic majority principle thus stretching the results of the agreement far beyond its original expectations. The art. 8 acknowledge the "specific modifying agreements" at the company and regional local levels (now called "proximity bargaining") in such a great number of cases to cover the whole regulation of working relationships. Derogation is now legitimated even in respect to the law, by a "blank power of attorney" to the decentralised level. ; La thèse est articulée en trois chapitres. Dans le premier est analysé l'encadrement juridique de la négociation collective par le droit communautaire. L'approche suivie a pour objectif de vérifier l'utilisation par le droit communautaire de la notion d'« autonomie collective ». Si les nouveaux dispositifs du Traité de Lisbonne, reconnaissant l'autonomie des partenaires sociaux, permettent de rapprocher les systèmes européens qui connaissent telle notion, leur mise en œuvre renie une telle conclusion. La faiblesse de la négociation collective européenne a conduit les législateurs nationaux, derrière la poussée des institutions européennes, à faire face à la crise économique par l'adoption de réformes visant à atteindre l'objectif de « flexicurité ». Dans ce contexte, on peut ainsi souligner la convergence des systèmes européens de relations professionnelles sur une décentralisation vers l'entreprise, tendance clairement observée dans la comparaison franco-italienne. Le deuxième chapitre est consacré à l'évolution du système français de relations professionnelles : après sa brève reconstruction, sont analysés les instruments élaborés par le législateur afin d'encourager la négociation d'entreprise par l'introduction d'accords dérogatoires. A partir des lois Auroux, une brèche dans le traditionnel système de relations professionnelles a été ouverte, suivie par des élargissements en 2004 et 2008. Il s'agit d'une nouvelle logique de fond du système, fondée sur la possibilité d'introduire des dérogations aux conventions collectives de différents niveaux, ainsi qu'à la loi. Il s'agit de faire place au critère de subsidiarité au lieu du principe traditionnel de hiérarchie. La mise en œuvre insatisfaisante de la réforme de 2004 a poussé le législateur à intervenir à nouveau en 2008 : il supprime le critère de hiérarchie qui est remplacé par le principe de « supplétivité ». La réforme a fait de l'accord d'entreprise le nouveau centre de gravité du système, en réalisant un vrai bouleversement. La loi de 2008 a créé également une véritable refondation du droit syndical, en intervenant sur les règles de légitimité des conventions collectives ainsi que sur les critères de représentativité des syndicats, en supprimant la présomption irréfragable de représentativité. La réforme a enfin effectivement encouragé la conclusion d'accords d'entreprise, notamment en matière d'emploi. Le dernier chapitre est consacré à la négociation collective en Italie. Il retrace l'évolution du système de relations professionnelles, historiquement centralisé, et la difficile émergence de la négociation d'entreprise, en analysant les instruments élaborés par les partenaires sociaux afin d'encourager la diffusion de la négociation d'entreprise. L'instrument le plus significatif a été celui des «clauses de sortie » qui, bien que déjà pratiquées, ont été formellement reconnues par la réforme de 2009. Alors que l'accord-cadre du 22 janvier 2009 autorise des « accords spécifiques modifiant » dans des conditions assez larges, l'accord interprofessionnel du 15 avril 2009 reproduit des critères plus stricts et limite eux au niveau territorial. Le cas Fiat, qui s'est posé en dehors des nouvelles règles, a rendu nécessaire une intervention en matière de représentativité syndicale. Ce qu'a été fait par l'accord interprofessionnel du 28 juin 2011 qui fixe les critères pour mesurer la représentativité syndicale, en accueillant un principe majoritaire auquel est liée l'efficacité générale des conventions collectives. Tels critères sont confirmés par l'art. 8 de la loi n° 148/2011, qui mentionne le principe majoritaire l'étendant bien au-delà des cas prévus par l'accord interprofessionnel. L'article 8 légitime les accords modifiants au niveau de l'entreprise et du territoire (« négociation de proximité ») dans cas si larges qu'ils couvrent l'entière règlementation des rapports de travail, dérogeant aussi bien aux conventions qu'à la loi par une sorte de « délégation en blanc ».

Negli ultimi anni la crisi economica ha colpito con forza l'intero Sud Europa, esasperando dinamiche di impoverimento e precarizzazione di lungo periodo. In Italia e in Spagna, tra gli altri, si è assistito a mobilitazioni contro la precarietà lavorativa e esistenziale. In questo contributo vengono presi in esame i movimenti contro la precarietà in Italia e in Spagna, allo scopo di analizzarne la genesi, gli sviluppi e le prospettive future. In particolare, il paper si concentra sulle rivendicazioni dei movimenti, l'autorappresentazione, la struttura delle alleanze e le strategie di azione, mettendo in luce i risultati delle proteste e i repertori discorsivi e di azione. | In the last years, the economic crisis heavily hit all the Southern European States, exacerbating well rooted dynamics of impoverishment and precarization. In Italy and Spain, among others, social movements against labour and existential precarity developed and took the streets, receiving a high degree of media attention. In this paper we focus on the movements against precarity in Italy and Spain, in order to analyse their genesis, developments, and future opportunities. In particular, the paper focuses on the movements' claims, their self-representation, the structure of alliances and their strategies of action, highlighting the results of the protests and the repertories of discourse and action. ; In the last years, the economic crisis heavily hit all the Southern European States, exacerbating well rooted dynamics of impoverishment and precarization. In Italy and Spain, among others, social movements against labour and existential precarity developed and took the streets, receiving a high degree of media attention. In this paper we focus on the movements against precarity in Italy and Spain, in order to analyse their genesis, developments, and future opportunities. In particular, the paper focuses on the movements' claims, their self-representation, the structure of alliances and their strategies of action, highlighting the results of the protests and the repertories of discourse and action. ; Extended abstract: In the last years, the economic crisis heavily hit all the Southern European States, exacerbating well rooted dynamics of impoverishment and precarization. In Italy and Spain, among others, social movements against labour and existential precarity developed and took the streets, receiving a high degree of media attention. In this paper we focus on the movements against precarity in Italy and Spain, in order to analyse their genesis, developments, symbolic discourse and future opportunities. In particular, the paper focuses on the movements' claims, their self-representation, the structure of alliances and their strategies of action, highlighting the results of the protests and the repertories of discourse and action. In Italy, the discourse against precarity can be divided into three phases: until the mid-2000s, a grassroots network of actors developed, addressing the flexibility of jobs and the fragmentation of the labour market, while the trade unions organized attempts of including atypical workers. The second phase is characterized by the widespread use of the term precariousness outside of the environments in which it was developed, by a massive use of the job's rights, and the increasing awareness of the difficulties of organizing precarious workers. In the third phase, precarity has become a common reference for workers' protests and broader activism, and a widespread and legitimate word in the public sphere as well. In Spain, mobilizations against precarity mainly developed in the aftermath of the economic crisis, and especially since 2010-2011, thanks to the action of JSF and, later, of the 15M movement. The claims against precarity are strictly intertwined with the broader claims on the right to housing and the lack of prospects for the youth, as well as to a deep disaffection towards the institutional politics, therefore they have an intrinsic and instant 'political' nature. The activists, indeed: seek for the societal consensus and, for this reason, they interact with the media, both grassroots and mainstream; put in place and activate wide networks of mobilization and alliances; and contribute to political experiences, such as Podemos and Ahora Madrid. Movements' differences are mainly related to their self-representation and action strategies. While in Spain the protests focus on the 'lack of' (future, jobs, security), in Italy they refuse a 'victimization' discourse, promoting a self-empowerment subjectivity. On the other hand, while in Italy action took place mainly in the field of labour and workers struggle –and the public sphere– in Spain activists went political, by contributing to the 15M movement, Mareas, Podemos, and Ahora Madrid. In this article we analyse the diverse experiences of the movements and highlight similarities and differences.