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Reconstructing the Legal Architecture of the Care Sector: EU Governance, Social Dialogue, and Italian Collective Bargaining

  • Samuele Renzi
  • Michele Mazzetti

This article examines the emerging legal and policy architecture of the care sector in the European Union (EU) and its interaction with national collective bargaining systems; focusing on the Italian healthcare and social-care context. The first part traces the emergenge of a functional – albeit still non-binding – EU concept of the care sector; reconstructed through an extensive review of secondary legislation; soft law and strategic policy documents; and the progressive institutionalisation of care in the European Care Strategy and the 2022 Council Recommendations. Through a longitudinal analysis of EU legislative and policy sources (1998–2025); the article demonstrates that European governance increasingly embraces an integrated understanding of care; spanning health; social and long-term care; and combining both formal and informal dimensions. Despite this conceptual consolidation; however; the EU social dialogue architecture remains structurally fragmented along national cleavages; as sectoral committees reproduce distinctions between public/private; formal/informal; and domestic/institutional care. This mismatch between EU functional definition and institutional representation limits the capacity of social dialogue to contribute to coherent regulatory outcomes. The second part analyses how EU-level principles resonate within Italian industrial relations. Italian collective bargaining in healthcare and social care is characterised by significant contractual differentiation; resulting in marked wage disparities and instances of contractual dumping; particularly affecting lower-qualified care workers with limited bargaining power. The article argues that accreditation mechanisms within the National Health Service (NHS) could serve as regulatory levers to promote upward convergence; provided they are linked to collective agreements concluded by the most representative social partners. Overall; the article contends that a coherent care sector requires legal alignment between EU-level governance and national labour regulation. Strengthening EU competences; redefining social dialogue structures; and enhancing national accreditation-based safeguards emerge as key pathways to ensuring dignified working conditions and sustainable; high-quality care provision across Member States.

  • Keywords:
  • European Care Strategy,
  • EU social dialogue,
  • care sector,
  • long-term care,
  • healthcare workforce,
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Samuele Renzi

University of Florence, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-9602-3167

Michele Mazzetti

EURICSE, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-8768-8167

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  • Pages: 261-286
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
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Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Reconstructing the Legal Architecture of the Care Sector: EU Governance, Social Dialogue, and Italian Collective Bargaining

Authors

Samuele Renzi, Michele Mazzetti

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1029-4.13

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2026

Copyright Information

© 2026 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

CARE4CARE - We Care for Those Who Care - Vol. III

Book Subtitle

Building Dignified Care Work in Europe: Critical Reflections, Policy Proposals and Practical Tools

Editors

Maria Luisa Vallauri, William Chiaromonte

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

408

Publication Year

2026

Copyright Information

© 2026 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1029-4

ISBN Print

979-12-215-1028-7

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-1029-4

eISBN (epub)

979-12-215-1030-0

Series Title

Studi sul lavoro di cura - Studies on Care Work

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