Bank workers: Part-time workers are granted reduced hours and a pay raise.

For bank employees on part-time contracts, the reduction in hours, agreed upon for the entire category in the latest employment contract, will be accompanied by a salary increase, starting in January 2026.

Yesterday, the unions Fabi, First, Fisac, Uilca, and Unisin signed with the ABI the coordinated text of the national collective bargaining agreement for Italian bank employees, which was renewed on November 23, 2023. As a statement from Fabi explains, this is a technical but crucial step that fully implements all the changes envisaged in the November 23, 2023, renewal, in effect until March 31, 2026, including the reduction in part-time working hours.

In a letter sent to the unions and signed by the general secretaries, ABI also defined the rules governing the reduction of working hours for part-time employees. The new collective agreement had reduced the working week for full-time workers from 37.5 hours to 37 hours, or a half-hour less per week, starting July 1, 2024. For part-time workers, it was decided that the reduction will be recognized, starting January 1, 2026, with a salary increase, "that is, with a recalculation, on an individual basis, of the economic treatment (hourly wage) due for the agreed-upon reduced hours; during the transitional period, paid leave was granted proportionate to the non-reduction in working hours." As for overtime, the hourly wage will be changed, starting January 1, 2026, to take into account the reduction in working hours, with the following formula: 1/360 of the annual salary for each day divided by 7.4 (and no longer 7.5)," explains a note from Fabi.

The coordinated text signed by ABI and the unions concludes the record-breaking agreement that established an average monthly raise of €435, of which bank employees have already received 92%. Three separate installments have been paid so far, with the final €35 installment coming with the March 2026 paycheck. "With this signing, we complete a national contract that to call historic is not just rhetoric, but a fact," commented FABI General Secretary Lando Maria Sileoni. "After the signing on November 23, 2023, which represented a turning point for protections, wages, and working hours, the coordinated text signed marks the full completion of a process that finally provides financial recognition to part-time workers, who are too often overlooked in major sectoral agreements. We demanded—and achieved—that the reduction in weekly hours also apply to them, not in the form of leave or bonuses, but with a real pay increase, visible on their paychecks. This is a fair trade union decision, but also a political signal, because second-class workers do not exist. Today, we are once again consolidating the balance between quality industrial relations and respect for rights. And collective bargaining is being strengthened: the national contract is not only holding up, but growing and strengthening. Our commitment now is to successfully complete the renewal of the management contract as well.