By Michele Sacchi – Of Counsel, Labour Law Department
Changing the collective bargaining agreement applied within a company may respond to organisational or economic needs, or to the need to harmonise employee terms and conditions. However, withdrawing from a National Collective Bargaining Agreement (CCNL) is a particularly sensitive process. A unilateral decision that has not been properly assessed may prove ineffective and, in more serious cases, may amount to anti-union conduct.
Three recent judicial decisions help define the limits of an employer’s ability to act.
1. An individual employer cannot withdraw early from a fixed-term CCNL
In Order No. 20601 of 18 June 2026, the Italian Supreme Court confirmed that, as a general rule, the right to terminate a CCNL lies with the collective parties that entered into it: trade unions representing employees and employers’ associations.
An individual employer applying a collective bargaining agreement with a predetermined expiry date cannot therefore withdraw from it unilaterally before that date, even by arguing that its provisions have subsequently become excessively burdensome. By adhering to the CCNL, the employer also accepts its agreed duration.
Practical rule: leaving an employers’ association does not automatically terminate, before its expiry date, the effects of a CCNL already applied by the company.
2. Unilateral replacement may amount to anti-union conduct
In Judgment No. 3585 of 4 November 2025, the Rome Court of Appeal examined the case of a company that had terminated the CCNL it applied, which contained an extension clause maintaining the agreement in force after expiry, and replaced it with a different collective bargaining agreement.
The Court held that the company’s conduct was anti-union because it objectively undermined the role of the organisations that had signed the previous CCNL. It is not necessary to prove that the employer specifically intended to harm the trade union. The actual effect of the employer’s conduct on trade union representation and collective bargaining rights may be sufficient.
A clause providing that the CCNL remains effective until it is renewed is not merely formal wording without legal effect. It binds the employer and prevents the collective agreement from being treated as an arrangement that may be freely revoked.
What to avoid: replacing a CCNL with a less costly agreement without first assessing its expiry date, any extension clause, the representativeness of the signatory parties and the involvement of the relevant trade unions.
3. Withdrawal is possible from an open-ended company-level collective agreement
The position changes when a collective bargaining agreement does not provide for any expiry date. In Judgment No. 14961 of 11 May 2022, the Italian Supreme Court recognised the employer’s right to withdraw unilaterally from an open-ended company-level collective bargaining agreement. No party can be required to remain indefinitely bound by an agreement with no expiry date.
The employer must nevertheless exercise its right of withdrawal in accordance with the principles of good faith and fair dealing and must preserve rights that employees have already definitively acquired. The judgment also concerned a company-level agreement entered into directly by the employer, rather than a national collective bargaining agreement signed by employers’ associations.
Final consideration: a full assessment is required before changing the applicable CCNL
The three decisions are not contradictory. Instead, they establish a framework based on the nature and duration of the relevant agreement:
- an individual employer cannot terminate a fixed-term CCNL before its expiry date;
- an extension clause continues to bind the company, and its breach may amount to anti-union conduct;
- an open-ended company-level collective bargaining agreement may be terminated, provided that the principles of good faith and fair dealing and employees’ acquired rights are respected.
Before changing the applicable collective bargaining agreement, a company should therefore determine the legal basis on which the current agreement applies, review its duration and extension clauses, verify any membership obligations arising from affiliation with an employers’ association, and assess the consequences for trade union relations and individual terms and conditions of employment.
Bacciardi Partners assists companies in reviewing the collective bargaining arrangements applicable to their workforce and in planning changes to collective agreements or the harmonisation of employment terms and conditions, with a view to preventing individual and collective labour disputes.
By Michele Sacchi – Of Counsel, Labour Law Department