(Updated with Intesa Sanpaolo)
Luxury car maker Lamborghini has reached an agreement with unions to implement a four-day week for its workers, labor associations and the company said Tuesday.
This agreement, deemed “historic” by the unions, is the first in the automobile industry in Europe to introduce a significant reduction in working hours without reducing wages, but rather by increasing them.
“Work less and work better, this is the principle which guided this negotiation and which is part of an overall reasoning”, indicates a press release from the IMF and the FIM-CISL.
Dedicated production workers working in two shifts alternate between a five-day week and a four-day week, which reduces the number of working days by 22 per year, according to the unions.
Those who work three shifts, including night shifts, will alternate one five-day week and two four-day weeks, reducing their annual number of working days by 31.
The agreement reached with Lamborghini is part of a broader renegotiation of the working environment for employees of the Italian car manufacturer, a subsidiary of the German Volkswagen group VOWG_p.DE, which also provides for 500 new jobs, an increase in annual salaries and other social advantages.
The four-day week at Lamborghini comes as many companies are considering implementing a new working environment for their employees after the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, Italy’s largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo
ISP.MI announced that 70% of its 30,000 employees who had the possibility of requesting to move to the four-day week had done so, with a request for a salary increase. In January, the banking group was the first Italian company to pave the way for a reduction in working hours, with the aim of making savings in energy terms.
Last week, eyewear maker Essilorluxottica ESLX.PA agreed with unions to test a four-day workweek model at its Italian factories, for 20 weeks a year.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari and Giulia Segreti, with contributions from Elisa Anzolin; Blandine Hénault for the French version, edited by Kate Entringer)