As reported by Trasporti Italia on 10 April, the deal introduces a monthly gross increase in drivers’ pay packets to cover so-called “dead time” – hours spent waiting during loading, unloading, customs or port-related procedures. The measure aims to improve working conditions and retain qualified drivers in a sector experiencing ongoing labour shortages.
The agreement was concluded between the employer associations Confartigianato Trasporti Lombardia, CNA-Fita, CLAAI, and Casartigiani Lombardia, and the unions FIT-CISL, UILTRASPORTI, and FILT-CGIL. It establishes a specific economic allowance for forced periods of inactivity that are not caused by the driver but are necessary to complete logistics operations.
Under the terms of the agreement, drivers will receive between €300 and €800 more per month in gross pay, depending on the nature and extent of their waiting times. This is in addition to an average gross increase of €260 per month introduced through the renewal of the national collective agreement for transport and logistics (CCNL Trasporti Logistica), which was signed in December 2024.
According to figures cited by Trasporti Italia, Lombardy is home to 6,068 artisan transport companies, employing around 8,000 workers. Milan leads the regional ranking with 1,447 firms, followed by Brescia (1,150), Bergamo (719), and Monza and Brianza (529). Despite this, the sector has seen a steady decline, with a 21% drop in the number of companies nationwide over the past decade and a shortage of approximately 20,000 heavy goods vehicle drivers across Italy.
The profession continues to face challenges including demanding schedules, prolonged time away from home, and the high cost of obtaining a professional driver qualification (CQC). The new agreement seeks to make the role more financially viable and to curb the outflow of workers from the industry.
In a statement quoted by Trasporti Italia, Confartigianato Lombardia described the deal as a move that “fills a regulatory gap” and reduces the risk of future legal disputes between businesses and employees. The trade unions involved said the agreement values human capital, offers better protection for drivers frequently working away from their home base, and contributes to addressing structural staff shortages.
Spain tackled the issue three years ago
The issue of excessive waiting times for truck drivers was formally addressed in Spain as early as March 2022, when the government introduced legal measures requiring shippers to compensate hauliers after one hour of waiting at loading or unloading points. The law also prohibited drivers from being made to load or unload HGVs themselves and introduced a digital monitoring system at RDCs. At the time, the Spanish reforms were hailed as a potential model for other European countries, but few followed suit.
Despite widespread recognition of the problem in Italy, no equivalent regulation has been in place—until now. A 2022 study by Italian road freight association Federtrasporti revealed that HGV drivers in Italy spend an average of 4.35 hours per day waiting for loading and unloading, often amounting to half of their driving time and one-third of their working day. Based on data from nearly 83,000 working days, the study estimated that drivers spend more than 330,000 hours per year waiting, equivalent to 42,000 full driving shifts.
Federtrasporti calculated that monetising these idle hours would represent a loss of €10 million annually, without even accounting for reduced vehicle productivity. The association argued that Italian hauliers could increase turnover by 15% if these inefficiencies were eliminated.
The agreement signed in Lombardy is one of the first tangible responses to this issue, introducing financial compensation for inactive time and potentially laying the groundwork for similar policies across the country.
