Public employment is an interesting case study because it is one of the few sectors in which unions maintain a strong membership and are able to contrast sector reform policies. In this work, after a theoretical framework and a few words about the attempts to reform proposed by Renzi government, we are dealing with empirical evidence on the socio-demographic transformations of the public over the early 2000s, on the unionization of public sector, on the electoral support in the elections of union representatives, despite the adoption of moderate contractual strategies. The final part of the essay describes the specific italian ‘supply model’, observing that the confederal, pluralistic and multitasking pattern of CGIL, CISL and UIL are the main factors that explain its (relative) success.
