BACK TO THE FUTURE. COMPANY-LEVEL OCCUPATIONAL WELFARE IN THE ITALIAN CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR.

The research aims at deepening into the analysis of some of the many determinants of the introduction of company-level welfare provisions as well as of their main features and the relation between the actors and interests involved. Previous literature started identifying a set of possible factors shaping welfare outcomes; some of them concern industrial relations, while others take into account the company’s origin and culture, the production and the characteristics of the workforce. In order to single out such elements, the analysis of a large number of company-level agreements signed in the Lombardy region for the chemical and pharmaceutical sector has been complemented by a case study analysis of nine multinational groups with different characteristics. Aside from investigating such relevant aspects, the study proposes causal relations and unveils a set of mechanisms working behind them. The first chapter of this work presents the general context and discusses in detail the most relevant contributions in the literature, in order to frame the research and define the object. The second chapter deepens into the Italian case and retraces historical developments and legislative advancements, with particular focus on industrial relations. Chapter three opens up the empirical analysis through the discussion of methods, source of data and research questions. This work is composed of two complementary steps built around a different number of cases: step one aims at framing the analysis with the study of 80 chemical and pharmaceutical companies operating in the Lombardy Region through reading the contents of their over 100 company-level agreements signed since the mid-2000s; step two narrows down the research to nine case studies that are thoroughly examined through at least two in-depth interviews for each case, with the national management and union representatives. Chapter five and six display the detailed retracing of the development of welfare provision, together with processes and preferences of the selected companies of – respectively – the industrial chemical and the pharmaceutical sectors. Chapter seven concludes the research with the summary of the main findings of the two- step analysis and the systematic comparison of the different experiences in order to draw a set of more general findings elaborated on the basis of the previously identified variables and the mechanisms that link them with one another. Conclusive remarks recall the most significant insights gathered so far and open up to future perspectives and possible developments of the research.