Southern European countries, with their apparently high degree of collective bargaining centralisation and state regulations, may seem to be little affected by the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages. This article looks at the case of Italy, the EU country generally reported to have the highest collective bargaining coverage in Europe, to show how the situation on the ground is more problematic than conventional indicators suggest. Not only does Italy lack a national minimum wage and a legal framework for collective bargaining extension, but its apparent high level of collective bargaining coverage is vulnerable to wage dumping practices. The article identifies the weaknesses of the Italian system and proposes some possible lines of reform.

The chapter analyses the main legal issues that make the application of the rules on posted workers in the Italian legal system problematic. Indeed, the Italian labour market is still exposed to dumping by companies based in other countries. The protective regime of the worker posted in Italy, while emerging strengthened by the 2020 reform, continues to suffer from the effects of a pathologically unregulated collective bargaining system and the weakness of the inspection activity.

. L'articolo analizza le principali questioni giuridiche che rendono problematica l'applicazione della disciplina del distacco transnazionale nell'ordinamento italiano, contribuendo ad esporlo al dumping operato da imprese con sede in altri Stati. L'analisi si sofferma in particolare sulle novità introdotte dal d.lgs. n. 22 del 15 settembre 2020 che ha riformato il d.lgs. 136/16 rece-pendo la direttiva 2018/957. Il regime protettivo del lavoratore straniero distaccato in Italia, pur uscendo rafforzato dalla novella, continua a scontare gli effetti di un sistema di contrattazione collettiva patologicamente sregolato e della debolezza dell'azione ispettiva.