Employment and industrial relations under downward pressures in the Italian public sector

The chapter aims to contribute to the scientific and socio-political debate by analysing in depth the changes to public sector employment and industrial relations over the last fifteen years and above all since the 2008 financial crisis. Specifically, it focuses on the strategies that social partners, in particular trade unions, have followed in this time period, the specific initiatives they have implemented, their outcomes, developments and factors that have influenced them. The public sectors described are: primary education, hospitals and municipalities.